Awaiting Destiny
by Lady of Silence
Summary: Chapter 11 is up. The Trial continues. The Plot thickens. And Cards are beginning to get more difficult for Sakura to capture. Will she be the winner, or will she just end up like all the otheres?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own CCS, So There. And If you sue me....I'll...I'll Sue you right back for trying to get this poor, innocent girl in trouble! OKAY ROLL IT GUYS!

.Prologue:

A seventeen-year-old young woman was taking a walk in the park, hoping to shake of the thoughts of doubt in her mind. 'I will stay here...there is no reason for me to leave...right?' She looked to the sky for answers. The stars only twinkled innocently in response, Sakura Kinomoto sighed heavily as she slowly continued walking through the park, finding a bench, she sat down to collect her thoughts. 'What reason Do I have to stay here? Dad doesn't need me and certainly onichan doesn't need me either. Tomoyo has Eriol so she doesn't need me....' Sakura closed her eyes as the feelings of rejection and loneliness began to overwhelm her. Soon her eyes were beginning to water and the tears she had so desperately tried to hide began to pour, Sakura made no attempt to stop them. She hugged herself as the breeze began to pick up, her long auburn hair which was blowing around her now was up to the middle of her back, since she hadn't bothered to cut it since her card capturing days, her green eyes, now wet with tears were bigger and more lustrous then before, her face was unblemished and her skin was the color of pale cream. She was beautiful. She didn't feel beautiful though she felt ugly, rejected and lonely. Sakura did her best to hide it though and it seemed that nobody suspected that Sakura was feeling the way she was. If only they knew....

Awaiting Destiny

By: Lady of Silence 

Chapter one: Flying Again

"Sakura!!! Its past eight! GET UP!!" the shrill voice of the former Guardian of the Clow cards awoke Sakura from another long night of dreamless sleep. "What?" Sakura asked groggily as she rubbed her eyes and reached blindly for the clock that was supposedly resting on the table next to her bed. "Oh-No!" Sakura said staring at the broken clock lying on the floor "I must've knocked it down while I was sleeping..." Sakura said dispiritedly as she got up and slowly started to get her school uniform. " Sakura? Are you feeling alright?" her guardian asked worriedly "Yes...I'm alright" Sakura said "Now go and hide Kero, before anyone sees you, I'll bring you some pudding"

"YAAY!!" Kero yelled joyfully as he zoomed around the room.

"Kero. Hide!" Sakura begged quietly as she heard footsteps making their way to her room.

"KAIJUU!! Are you up yet!?!" Sakura's elder brother, Toya shouted from behind her door, seconds before he actually opened it.

Sakura, who was ready with a pillow hurled it at her brother's head, hitting him square in the face. "Does that answer your question?" Sakura said in her sweetest possible voice, blinking innocently as her brother glared at her. She watched him as his gaze shifted to her 'stuffed animal'. Toya squinted at Kero causing him to start sweatdroping nervously. "Okay, Okay! I'm awake oniichan, you can LEAVE now!" Sakura stated. Toya grumbled, softly saying 'kaijuu' one more time before closing the door, and the minute the door was closed, a second pillow followed, smashing into the door before sliding down to the floor. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Geez I really should get a lock..." Sakura muttered under her breath as she slowly skated towards the school, still thinking about her brother. As she walked into the class room she felt a strong power surge through her body. She swayed unsteadily. Kero said this would happen, she was getting stronger everyday , magic wise and physically too, although being the powerful sorceress she was, her new power was also affecting the Sakura Cards too, they would be getting stronger and evolve into nearly unstoppable forces that only their mistress can control. 'There _will_ be other cards mistress...' an echoing voice sounded inside her head. 'These cards will be stronger and help you greatly as well as help others at your command..._Be ready_....' the voice whispered as it faded. ".....omoto, Miss Kinomto! pay attention!" the teacher looked at her. Sakura instantly went back to the lesson. "Sorry..." she mumbled

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura was walking home, watching the cherry blossoms fall. 'What did they mean..?' Sakura wondered, thinking about the voice she'd heard in class '...Be ready....for what? New cards?' Sakura's mind started to wander on what the voice was trying to tell her. Walking around in the park, she felt a tingle trough her magical senses, she rushed into the forest, intent on finding the source of the power she sensed. There sitting on a rock in the thicket was a woman, the magical aura around her was pulsing like the rhythm of a drum being beaten, she glanced up to see the young Clow Mistress watching her intently, her aquamarine eyes sparkled as she smiled at the cardcaptor. 'Hello' her mind-voice said 'I was hoping you'd come. I've heard a lot about you Mistress.....and I have a gift...for you, if you'll except it...' she held out her hand and Sakura's summoning wand appeared in her palm 'I shall change your wand so it will have more power...' Sakura only nodded numbly as the Card went to work, reforming Sakura's wand into a sword. 'From now on you will not need the wand to summon the cards...your call will be enough to summon them...only use the sword in dire matters...you will also learn spells...not having to do with cardcaptoring, it is based in your own power, this power won't depend on the cards....to have this power...you must fight me...' she said as the sword floated out of her hands and into Sakura's. Sakura inspected her new weapon. A dragon was twined on the hilt of the sword, with glowing ruby eyes it looked very menacing, it also had a crystal ball in it's hands, the dragon's body was circled around the hilt of the sword, stopping just before the blade started, on the blade was an ancient Chinese spell written vertically. The sword was very impressive that was for sure. As a ball of light gathered around the sword and as the sword turned into it's false form, which was a magnificent dragon pendent, the card attacked the young, unsuspecting Card Mistress, sending balls of energy flying towards her. Sakura instinctively thought of the jump card, causing it to appear on her feet and save her seconds before being blown to a million tiny fragments. "Fly!" Sakura yelled, huge feathered angel wings appeared on her back 'Huh? Angel wings?' Sakura thought, but she had no time to ponder about it anymore at the moment because another energy ball came hurling her way, her wings took her higher and faster than it had ever taken her. The card smiled as she came following after her, slamming Sakura with a strong energy blast, sending her hurling backwards "Firey!' Sakura shouted forming a large fireball in her hands as she threw it at the card, slamming it onto the ground "Return to the Form you were Destined to be, Clow card!" She yelled, hurling one last fireball at the card turning into her card form. 'Well done Mistress...' the card said. Sakura stood there for a few minutes still trying to figure out what happened, slowly she made her way to the card and picked it up. The Heal, it read. Sakura smiled 'At least I'll have something to do over the weekends...'

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura made her way home, considerably more cheerful than she would if she had not run into the Heal Card. "I'm home!" Sakura yelled, "Hello Sakura" Fujitaka greeted cheerfully from the kitchen "Hey dad!" Sakura said as she made her way into her room, as she walked in she saw a certain furry creature sitting in front of the television, tapping viciously on the remote control, while shouting vehemently at his opponent . "DIE!!! VERMIN!" Kero shouted as he tapped the remote harder than ever. Sakura chuckled softly, amused "Kero, I have something to tell you" Sakura said, startling the Guardian of the Clow cards. "What is it Sakura?" Kero asked as he paused the game. "Well...." Sakura started as she showed him the captured card. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*A while later*~*~*~*~*~

"...and then she turned back into her card form....but Kero what I don't understand why The Fly Card's power is different...I mean I don't really recognize the card's power signature anymore...it's...different..." said Sakura. "Well... Sakura didn't I say this would happen? I just didn't think it would happen so quickly...your powers must be growing faster than I anticipated it would. Apparently the fly Card gathered enough energy for it's powers to evolve...and as a result it turned out to look like those angel wings" Kero said floating up to take a look at the newly evolved fly card. "I'll call Tomoyo and tell her about this..." Sakura said, her gaze shifted to a picture on her desk where all her friends were posing. A certain Golden-brown-eyed teen caught her eye. 'Syaoran ..' Sakura thought 'No! he's not here he's in Hong Kong he doesn't exist to you anymore!' Sakura said to herself. But no matter what her brain said her heart just wouldn't listen.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Li Syaoran, was watching the cherry blossoms fall gracefully into the water fountain as his mother was discussing plans for his future wedding ceremony, with his cousin and fiancée Li Meiling. He sighed, still wondering what would have happened if he had stayed in Japan , he closed his eyes hoping to forget that emerald-eyed beauty he left back there, he never told her how he had felt, afraid of being laughed at. 

Laughed at? no...more afraid of being rejected by the one person he'd come to care about, the person who's sunny personality lit up the room. Kinomoto Sakura. The one girl who made him feel as if he could take on the world and win, the _only_ person who's smile could reduce him into the lovesick person that he was .....and the person he'd left behind...in Japan. 

Syoaran smiled faintly, recalling her voice, seeing her face in his mind. Over the years he had become the warrior that his mother had always wanted him to be, he'd also grown into quite the catch, not one man could rival his looks, fighting ability, his magic ability, and his incredible physique. Coming from the most powerful and rich clan in Hong Kong didn't help either. Reporters were usually at their gates hoping to get an interview with one of the members of the elusive Li clan. It was all getting rather annoying, being hounded by all these reporters, trying to get a scoop on the latest happenings of the Li clan. 'Why can't they bother someone else?' Syaoran thought irritably. "This is going to be the best wedding Syaoran!" Meiling squealed "We're going to be so happy together!" 

Syaoran didn't respond, he just sat there continuing to stare at the cherry blossoms, ignoring Meiling as if she had never spoken in the first place. "Xiaolang? What's the matter?" Li Yelan, the Clan's Matriarch, and Syaoran's mother asked, from her seat beside her niece. "Nothing." Syaoran said, not even looking at his mother. "Nothing..." Syaoran repeated, telling them exactly what he felt in his heart and what emotion this struck him as. Completely Nothing. No pain. No Happiness. Nothing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura sat in her room talking to Tomoyo, who was sitting across from her on the bed. "New Cards? New powers?" Tomoyo asked. "Uh-huh. New cards. New powers." Sakura confirmed with a nod. "KAWAII!" Tomoyo said, whipping out her camera. "You _have_ to tell me how you captured the Heal!" Tomoyo said "And to think...I wasn't there to tape it..." Tomoyo sighed in disappointment 

"Why don't you let kero-" Sakura abruptly stopped, feeling her senses flare with energy. Another power surge. Sakura closed her eyes hoping the dizziness would go away, when it was finally beginning to fade, she felt something else.... "A Card!" Sakura said standing up quickly, fingering her Dragon pendent. "Lets go Kero," Sakura said as she dashed outside, following the energy.

After a bit of running on Sakura's part, she finally came to Penguin Park. There, sitting atop the gigantic tree branch near the penguin slide was another woman. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, leaving two strands of it billowing in her face. Her clothes were a jacket and shorts that ended to about the length of a mini skirt to let her move freely. She had a sword in one hand and her other hand was resting on the tree. Her Black eyes flicked with blue and green, looked very pleased at the appearance of the Clow Mistress. 'You've got guts. I'll give you that much. And you may have stood strong against Heal. But can you survive against me...?' The Card asked, eyes flashing wickedly. "Well... there's only one way to find out" Sakura said, not taking her eyes off the card. 

The card's face broke out into an amused smile 'That...we shall see soon enough...' 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The clash of swords could be heard echoing through the Li household. That sound could only signify one thing. Syaoran was training again, he trained relentlessly never needing rest, never having enough training. 

It was the only thing of comfort for Syaoran. Training day in. Training day out. Never needing the comfort of his own bed, never needing a good meal. Training. It was the same everyday for Syaoran. It was only thing that could make him forget that he was getting married, not for himself, but for his clan, make him forget the painful twist of his heart whenever he thought of that certain auburn- haired girl that he could never call his own, and make him forget the possibility that she found someone else to care about, someone else she gave her heart to.

He gave that up....for what? This? This wasn't the kind of life he wanted. He didn't need all the fame, all the fortune, all the power.... He needed Sakura. And he couldn't have her, because of this stupid engagement of his. Not only that, the fact that she couldn't possibly care for him in return also burnt him. Could he blame her? No, he couldn't. After the way he treated her, ignoring her, shunning her at the end of the Final Judgment, he would hate himself too... if he were in her shoes. What reason did she have to care about him? None. She _shouldn't_ have a reason to. 

"Xiaolang, something _is_ wrong I can sense it" Yelan said from the doorway. "You've been distracted ever since this morning..." 

"Its _nothing_ mother. I just have a lot on my mind, that's all" Syaoran said still continuing to train. "In any case, I don't want you to be so cold towards Meiling, she _is_ you future wife you know" Yelan said softly. 

Syaoran laughed coldly. "_My_ future wife? No, _Mother_, she is not _my_ future wife, she is the _clan's_ Future Mistress. I'm only doing this for the sake of the _Clan_, not for me, I'm doing this because _you_ want me to" Syaoran looked at his Mother. "I need to train mother. Please excuse me." Syaoran said before he walked out the door. Yelan stood there, still not believing her son's words. Had she been that hard on him? To drive him to the point of training himself to death? He saw no trace of a smile ever since he got back seven years ago. The smile that was rarely there, but was still present when he was happy. It was gone now. All gone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Sakura! Be careful! That's the Warrior Card! It's _very_ strong. your not powerful enough to stand up against it" kero said. 

Sakura wasn't listening, she was already locked in a battle with the opposing card. "Watery!" Sakura yelled, the water card came out, dousing the card. The card just smiled and said. "If that's all you've got, than this is just a waste of my time!" The Card slammed Sakura with a powerful energy blast sending her sprawling away bruised, battered, bleeding, and unconscious. "Sakura!!" Tomoyo shrilled in horror, seeing her friend lying motionless on the ground, she rushed over to check if there was any serious injuries. Unfortunately, for a distraught Tomoyo there were, Sakura's head was bleeding continually, her arm was bend in an abnormal angle, signaling that her arm was broken. Sakura had bruises forming on her thigh, neck, arm and cheek. Hand shaking, Tomoyo quickly called the hospital.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The phone rang in the kitchen of the Kinomoto household, Fugitaka answered it. "Hello?" Fugitaka said cheerfully, into the earpiece. Toya, in the other room studying with Yuki was listening to his father's conversation. "Oh! Tomoyo! Hello, Yes?...Accident?" Toya heard his father choke out. "Sakura?! I-Is she alright?.....hurt? how badly?....but...How?! Yes.. alright I'll be right there." Toya heard the phone click, and he saw his father walking out of the kitchen, looking very pale. "What is it dad?" Toya asked, afraid of what he might hear. "S-Sakura...she's been in an accident.. she's been hurt, badly" Fugitaka answered, tonelessly. Toya bounded off the seat and sprinted towards the hospital.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Syaoran? I have an errand for you to run." Yelan said to her son the following morning after their little talk the night before. "Yes mother." Syaoran said. 'No questions? No disagreements?' Syaoran's mother thought "Good..... take Meiling and head to Japan. You will find your cousin, Fa Ling in the hospital...she has a disease...its incurable, I want you to bring her back to Hong Kong for some treatment." Yelan said, looking for some sort of emotion to show on Syaoran's face. "Yes mother." Syaoran said again as he got up, bowed to his mother and walked out of the room. Once he was gone, Yelan collapsed in a chair. The elders had wanted him to become a warrior, cold and heartless, one who wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him, and now he was that kind of person, Yelan closed her eyes, Was this the right thing? To train him like this from the time he could hold a sword, until he became old and Grey? To take his childhood away as soon as he was able to walk and dump a load of unfair responsibilities on him, such as retrieving the clow Cards? Yelan sighed, if she had the chance to turn back time, would she do things differently? 

She would never know.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Syaoran sat on a bench, staring into the cherry blossom trees. _Japan_.....he was going back.... Would he she her again? Would she remember him? Would he recognize her? He probably would. And _why_ was Meiling coming? She had no business with his cousin. Syaoran sighed helplessly, all he wanted to do was see her again and tell her how he felt about her, hoping that she would feel the same way. He hadn't meant to be so cold to his mother, it was just that he was frustrated at not having the chance to choose his own life. He would find her, he would see her again, and then everything would be okay again, it was always like that when he was in Japan, whenever something was wrong , he would take one look at Sakura and everything wouldn't seem all that bad. He just hoped that it would still be like that. Sighing once more, he rose slowly from where he was sitting and made his way back to the house to start his packing, it would be an exceedingly _long_ trip if Meiling was coming.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Ms. Kinomoto will be just fine, she has already started to heal, which is amazing, since she was just brought in a few minutes ago...anyway I see no worries for Ms. Kinomoto, although I highly suggest that she stay in the hospital for a month of two." the doctor said cheerfully as he made his way out of the room. "A few..._months?_" Sakura said, losing the little color she had left on her face. "B-but I'll miss school!" 'And what if another Card shows up?' Sakura thought grimly. "Sakura listen to the doctor, if it gets you better than you miss school." Fugitaka said kindly. "Don't worry Sakura, I'll bring you your homework and I'll keep an eye out for you, okay?" Tomoyo said smiling. "Thanks Tomoyo..." Sakura said as she drifted off to sleep.

That night, Sakura heard some soft singing echoing down the halls, "What is it Sakura?" Kero asked worried, "You need your rest." 

"Kero, do you hear that?" Sakura asked, listening to the voice of a small child singing softly 

"No...wait, yes!" Kero replied, as he rose into the air and followed his mistress as she got out of bed and began to follow the voice. The voice lead them into the room of a child about the age of five, she was sitting up in bed looking out the window, singing quietly. "Hello..." the child said smiling at them as she got up to greet Sakura. "Um...Hello" Sakura said offering her own small smile. "I'm sorry if I woke you up, my name is Fa Ling" The small child announced "I'm Sakura" Sakura said, charmed by the sparkle in the little girl's eyes "Why were you singing?" Sakura asked. 

"Oh! um...

I was singing...to lead my guardian Angel to me... but she still hasn't come yet." Fa Ling answered

"Lead your guardian angel...?" Sakura said 

"uh-huh, You see I...have a disease that can't be cured by modern medicine...so I'm hoping my Guardian angel will come to cure me."

"You really think she will come?"

"Yes, she told me so, in my dreams, I dream of her every night, she always says the same thing 'If you wait for me I will come to help you' She will come, I know it, so...I'll wait" Fa Ling said as she started her singing again. Sakura watched her sing for awhile, seeing the look of hope in her eyes as she kept singing. Sakura felt tears began to swell in her eyes, her mind drifting to Syaoran, She once had hope that he would come back, but he never did, and eventually she gave up hoping, praying that he would come back, seeing this little girl, with such hope in her eyes, made all those memories come back. Sakura knew what it was like to have hopes like that, hope that the person you want to come will come, and how it felt like to have those hopes shattered when you realize that they won't come. And knowing that this little girl will die if her hopes weren't answered, made Sakura want to do something to help her. And then it hit her. She smiled at the singing girl and said "Tell me when she does visit you, I want to know what happened, okay?" Fa Ling smiled and nodded, still singing. Sakura walked out of the room, she had a lot of things to do to get her plan ready, she would have to call Eriol and Tomoyo, and tell them what she was planning and have them help her with some of the other little details. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Li Syaoran stepped out of the airplane and was immediately swarmed by reporters, "Master Li! Is it true that you and your fiancée will finally be tying the knot?" One reporter asked. Syaoran felt the overwhelming urge to punch the reporter for asking such a question, _ Marry_ Meiling? They _had _to be joking, There was absolutely _no_ _way_ in life or death would he do such a thing. Syaoran didn't answer the reporter and instead motioned for the body guards around him to push all these reporters back, When they failed to do so, he used one of his spell cards, 'Wind! Come to my aid' Syaoran thought, the wind picked up and Syaoran made a dash to the limo. "Syaoran! Why did you leave me out there!?!?" Meiling demanded, sounding like she was whining. Syaoran chuckled, amused "Don't tell me that you couldn't handle a _few_ reporters Meiling." Syaoran said mockingly.. Meiling blushed, "W-well of course I could!" 

"Then what's the whining for?" Syaoran asked 

"I-I could, I was just surprised when you left me, that's all" Meiling stammered

" Really? Is that all?" Syaoran drawled "In any case, we have to get to that hospital"

"Right." Meiling mumbled 

~*~*~*~*~*Two weeks Later~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"We're here Sakura!" Tomoyo said joyously. 

"What did you want to see us about?" Eriol asked smiling. "I need a favor to ask you" Sakura said. "Well there's this little girl that keeps saying that she dreams about an angel and she says will come and...maybe it's better if you see her for yourself" Sakura whispered as she walked over to Fa Ling's room

"Sakura! You're back!" Fa Ling squealed as she rushed over and threw her arms around Sakura's middle. "Hello Ling" Sakura said, using her nickname for Fa Ling. "She _will_ come tonight I know it....she has to...I'm leaving tomorrow morning." Fa Ling said fighting tears. Sakura's eyes widened, "What? b-but you _can't_, at least...not yet" "Ahem....Excuse me for interrupting but, Sakura, we needed to talk right?" Eriol asked. "Oh yes, um Ling...we'll be back to say goodbye to you tomorrow, okay?" Sakura asked ,Fa Ling nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Bye-bye Sakura" Fa Ling said sadly as Sakura made her way to her room.

~*~*~*~*~In Sakura's room~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well you see, my plan is to use The Heal card to heal myself and then go heal Fa Ling as her Guardian Angel. But the problem is that I have nothing to wear, I'll need to use the Fly card, and I don't know how to get into Fa Ling's room, I mean I just can't walk in, she'll be expecting her angel to make a more...dramatic entrance. So I'll need someone to help me with that part too. Kero will be coming too, of course." Sakura explained "No problems on your costume Sakura! I'll handle that.... This will be so KAWAII!" Tomoyo said eyes shining at the idea of filming Sakura. Eriol chuckled "And I'll help you with your 'dramatic appearance' it well have to be tonight right? Since Miss Fa Ling is leaving tomorrow morning" Sakura nodded "Yes it has to be tonight, and I want it to go as smoothly as possible"

"Okay... so...have you caught the Transport card yet?" Eriol asked 

"No! Eriol, I'm here to help Fa Ling and not worry about the Cards!" Sakura said 

" No, I mean you could use the Transport card to help you with your appearance" Eriol said patiently "Hey, maybe if we....." Tomoyo started talking, but Sakura wasn't listening, she was thinking about the Cards.

Sakura sighed, she hadn't had the chance to get out of the hospital, even at night, it was guarded with the most advanced security, and her powers had been getting too overwhelming , that every time another energy surge came, she would feel weaker than a newborn kitten. Kero had said it would take some time for her body to adjust to all the power it was receiving. "....What do you think Sakura?" Tomoyo was saying. "What? Oh, sorry Tomoyo, I wasn't paying attention....my mind was wandering...sorry" Sakura said, snapping her attention back to the raven-haired girl. "I was just saying, how we could use the Sleep Card to put all the nurses, doctors and other patients, spare Fa Ling, then there's no way we'll get caught." Tomoyo said smiling. "Good Idea! Why didn't I think of it?" Sakura asked, grinning "Lets get to work then!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Syaoran walked into the hospital, wearing sunglasses, a black T-shirt over a white open one, that defined his finely chiseled muscles and blue jeans, he was oblivious to the admiring stares of the women, nurses, doctors and patients alike. His mission was to take Fa Ling home with him tomorrow, for the finest treatment available for her disease. He walked up to the front desk and asked a gawking nurse where Fa Ling was, She blushed a deep shade of red as he took off his sunglasses to stare at her with his golden-brown eyes "Y-yes! um ...M-Miss Fa Ling's room is room 713 on the second floor" the nurse stammered. Syaoran smiled faintly "Thank you." visibly making the flustered nurse melt. Syaoran turned and briskly made his way to the second floor. "Syaoran! Wait!" Meiling called as she dashed inside the building and ran to catch up with him. "What are _you_ doing here?" Syaoran asked irritated "I thought I told you to stay with Wei" Syaoran added coldly. Meiling pouted "Syaoran I thought you needed my help" She said "In what? annoying me? you're doing a great job of that" Syaoran said and turned around to find Fa Ling's room without so much as a backwards glance at Meiling.

"Syaoran!" Fa Ling cried joyfully as she rushed into her cousin's waiting arms. Syaoran chuckled and buried his face in the crook of her neck. "How are you doing Fa Ling?" He asked "I'm fine! My guardian angel will make sure of that." Fa Ling smiled. Syaoran watched his cousin and smiled weakly, Fa Ling was only four and here she was putting on a brave face saying that she would be alright. He was powerless to help her. He _hated_ feeling powerless to help someone he cared about, pain tore at his chest as he watched the trusting hope in Fa Ling's eyes. "She said my angel will come tonight" Fa Ling said looking up at him with those light brown eyes of hers. "She?" Syaoran asked. "uh-huh, she is another patient in this hospital, she was torn up pretty badly when she came here, broken arm, fractured wrist, bruises and internal bleeding...But she's okay now...well, almost, her arm and wrist still need to heal and-" Fa Ling was cut off by someone knocking at her door. "Come in!" Fa Ling called. The door opened and a boy with glasses, deep blue eyes and an annoyingly cheerful smirk on his face walked in. "Eriol! Hi!" Fa Ling said smiling. "Miss Fa Ling its nice to see you again, Tomoyo and I were just wondering......" Eriol trailed off as he spotted Syaoran. "You!" Syaoran said through gritted teeth. "Well hello, descendent, what a surprise seeing you here."

"_What _are you doing here?" Syaoran said staring at him.

"Its okay Syaoran, he and Miss Tomoyo are friends of that girl I was just talking about." Fa Ling said

trying to soothe her cousin's tense mood, and only made it worse, by mentioning Tomoyo's name. "And what would the name of that girl be?" Syaoran asked, half hoping, half dreading at what the answer might be. "Sakura Kinomoto" Fa Ling and Eriol said in unison. Syaoran stiffened, 'Sakura here? But Why?' "S-Sakura? What happened to her?" Syaoran asked shakily, as horrible images of Sakura battered and bruised entered his mind. "We'll talk about that later." Tomoyo said as she walked into the room, "Now Fa Ling, will you tell me how your guardian angel is supposed to look like? Sakura told me that you were waiting for her, and I'd like to know how she looks like, so that if I see her, I'll tell her you're waiting for her." Tomoyo said smiling. "Okay!" Fa Ling said as she took Tomoyo's hand and led her to the corner of the room. 

"Now descendent, I'd like to know what you are doing here" Eriol asked as he and Syaoran made their way to the cafeteria. "I came here to take Fa Ling back to Hong Kong for some treatment" Syaoran said simply. 

"That's not necessary, she can stay here." Eriol said quietly. "She will be fine by tomorrow morning" 

Syaoran was just about to answer when he felt his magical senses scream to life, he felt an extremely strong wave of magical energy, it was pulsing with innocence and felt very.....pink. Syaoran looked up, across the hall was a very beautiful woman, her hair was the color of the purest auburn reaching up to her waist, her eyes shinier than the finest cut emeralds, her skin looked very soft, colored pale cream, her right arm was in a sling and she had a couple of fading bruises still visible, but even through all that, she was human perfection. Syaoran was scarcely aware that he had stopped breathing until a gasp of air exploded from his chest, "Wow..." Syaoran breathed. Never before had he seen a woman as beautiful as she, Syaoran could have sworn that he was looking upon a living goddess, what else would she be? Beside him he heard Eriol chuckle, "Well, well, well, Sakura, you're awake, how was your nap?" Eriol asked innocently, but to one who looked closely, they would see the unmistakable gleam of mischief in his eyes. Sakura frowned at him, indicating that her nap didn't go very well, "Well it was....okay" Sakura lied. Sakura didn't recognize the incredibly handsome man standing next to her best friend's boyfriend. He reminded her of someone vaguely familiar, although she couldn't remember who.

Syaoran watched Sakura stare at him with a slight frown on her lovely face. He guessed that it was the fact that he probably couldn't find his energy signal. Years of restless training had taught him how to hide his power so that no one, not even the legendary Mistress of the Clow Cards would be able to detect that he was there, magic wise at least. It was a useful little technique that helped in keeping away unwanted attention to the magically gifted, unfortunately it only worked with those kind of people, keeping away an unwanted Cousin/fiancée was another story. Sakura watched him attentively, tilting her head to one side as if she wanted to get another angle of him, hoping that might help her figure out just who he was. "Do I know you?" She finally said. Syaoran felt as though he was stabbed in the gut with a very sharp knife, she didn't remember him.... Sakura didn't remember him....Could he blame her? After the way he had treated her, why would she even _want _to remember him? "Well it was nice meeting you...." Sakura said as she walked away without even asking for his name. Syaoran stood there rooted to the spot, she was gone. He couldn't help wondering what had happened to her arm and what caused the bruises on her flawless skin. "What happened?" He asked Eriol. Eriol took his time in answering, he paused, looking for the right words to say so that he didn't get his descendent worried in any way, realizing there were no words that would prevent Syaoran from worrying, and that there was no other alternative, and that Syaoran wouldn't give up until he found the answers he was looking for, Eriol sighed and said in slow careful words, "It was a Clow Card." Syaoran felt his heart stop. A Clow card? but they captured them all! Sakura had to face these new cards all by herself? "Well actually, there not Clow cards, and they're not Sakura Cards either, they're The Miracle Cards, they are very powerful." Eriol said "I'm not really sure that Sakura will survive catching all the cards.... she almost died after battling the Warrior Card, it could have killed her, but I guess it wants to see if Sakura will get stronger, for a much tougher battle, that's the thing Warrior likes, challenges, so I guess that the only reason it didn't kill Sakura was that it could get a better rematch....these cards aren't afraid to kill, Syaoran, they will if they feel that they must." Eriol added quietly. "And you needn't worry about Fa Ling, she will be fine by tomorrow morning, Sakura will see to that."

Syaoran was still thinking about what Eriol had said, even though that had been hours ago. 'Sakura is fighting another set of cards? Eriol said that these cards are even stronger then the last ones...' Syaoran was so deep in thought that he was completely toning out Meiling's mindless chatter. "....and then I found myself lost, so I thought 'Oh my gosh! I'll never go see my Syaoran again! I can't let that happen! So I...." Meiling babbled endlessly. 'I wish you did get lost and never _ever_ find me' Syaoran thought sullenly "Meiling, can you be _quiet_ for five minutes? I'm _trying_ to think" Syaoran stated as he once again began to tone out his annoying cousin. 'I have to do something... I have to find out some more information about these Miracle Cards..' Syaoran looked up to see Tomoyo watching him intently from the other side of the cafeteria, No it wasn't _him_ she was watching, she was watching someone _behind _ him. Syaoran turned around quickly and found his little cousin, Fa Ling talking in a rapid, excited voice, to a radiant woman with a sunny smile on her face, the beauty of it could only belong to one person and that person was Sakura, suddenly the Sakura laughed at something Fa Ling said, then shook her head. Looking back at Tomoyo, he found that she had whipped out her camera and was recording the entire scene, with Fa Ling, she was grinning widely, as if she knew what they were talking about. She looked at Sakura, then to Fa Ling, and back, still grinning, she took out a pencil and began to draw on the sketch pad on the table before her, occasionally looking at Sakura. A few minutes of this and she looked up from her sketch pad, there were stars in her eyes, and she had that oh so famous dreamy eyed look in her eyes. Looking back at his annoying fiancée he scowled, _Why_ did she talk so much? Couldn't she just shut _up_ for a few minutes? Syaoran sighed helplessly and shook his head, he needed some fresh air. Slowly he stood up and began making his way outside. 

Sakura looked back at that strange and yet familiar boy, why did he look as if she'd met him before? He was staring right at her, or was he looking at Fa Ling? She couldn't really be sure, and why did she really care so much at what or who he was looking at? Sakura shook her head, the room suddenly felt suffocating, she needed air. She took one more glance at the boy, finding him looking at the woman sitting across the table from him, he looked _very_ irritated at her constant babbling, he looked ready to just walk away and leave her sitting there chatting with just the thin air to keep her company. Sakura couldn't stop the small smirk tugging at her lips. Eriol was watching Syaoran with an even more devious smirk than Tomoyo, which was saying much because her smirk was not easy to match. It would be a lot of fun to meddle in his decedent's life again. 

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End of Chapter one! Very long chapter that's for sure. Please Review I'd love to hear from you. Suggestions are all welcome. AND stay tuned for the next Chapter!!!!!!!!! DUM DUM DUUUUM!


	2. Fallen Angels

Hello Everyone! I'm back! I hope that you enjoyed the first chapter cause the second installment is here. I want to send a thank you to all those who took the time to review, you've all inspired me to keep writing. I hope I won't disappoint you. *bows* And now, ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!!

Oh yeah! **Disclaimer:** I do not own CCS, the plot and some of the extra characters are mine. 

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CHAPTER 2: Fallen Angel

Eriol walked into Sakura's room to find that she was sleeping. The tiny Guardian of the Beast clicking furiously at the remote, trying to find something suitable to watch on the television, while munching on one of the pastries that Mr. Kinomoto had brought for his daughter. "How long has Sakura been sleeping?" Eriol asked, taking a pastry from the basket. "About three hours now" Kero said nonchalantly, still clicking at the remote. Eriol sighed looking absently at the window, he blinked. Syaoran was outside, sitting on a bench near the trees that were set around the hospital, his elbows were resting on his knees and his head was in his hands. He looked utterly lost and vulnerable, a rarity at seeing the Great Syaoran Li looking as if the world had abandoned him. A twinge of sympathy went through Eriol's veins, he knew that the soon-to-be- leader of the Li clan was thinking about. Sakura. The reincarnation of Clow Reed knew it. Eriol sighed, maybe he had taken for granted what his descendant had gone through these past seven years, he should make a little more effort to try and be nice to him, even if it was only a tad bit nicer.

Syaoran stared at the ground without actually seeing it. How could the Mistress of the Cards, _his_ Mistress of the Cards get hurt that badly? Were these new cards really all that powerful? Eriol said they were, and, as much as he hated to admit it, Eriol was usually right about these things. 'This is only the beginning....' Eriol had said when they were in Fa Ling's room. Fa Ling had been sleeping so she couldn't have heard. Eriol had said that the Miracle cards tended to let the weaker ones come first, before the four God Cards made their appearance. The God Cards were the Strongest cards in the Celestial Deck. The Miracle Cards were also known as the Celestial Cards, the strongest cards ever created. Eriol had given him a complete history lesson about the Miracle Cards. The Why, How, When, and where of these Cards. According to Eriol, Sakura _had_ to capture at least one God Card, in order to catch the rest. The other Cards wouldn't even dent any of the God Cards. Eriol said that only a God can take down a God. Syaoran had wanted to punch the Creators of these Cards. To create such powerful Cards and to leave them lying around was just irresponsible, especially when his Sakura got involved. He'd help her. Of that he was sure, he wouldn't leave her alone when the biggest threat to her life was right around the corner. 

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Sakura yawned, it was already dark out, step one of her plan had to get into motion. She blinked, Tomoyo was sitting down on the chair staring at her. "Up and at 'em, Sunshine" Tomoyo grinned, a cream white gown was resting in her lap. "Time to get this show on the road" Tomoyo said looking as if she had been waiting for this moment her entire life. "Tomoyo? What did you eat today?" Sakura asked slowly, feeling a little bit uncomfortable, her friend had a predatory gleam in her eyes. "Eriol?" the voice of her guardian broke through the silence that followed the muffled giggles that came from Tomoyo. "I'm over here, in the hall" the boy in question said looking, poking his head into the room. "What do we do first?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo looked at her watch. "Put everyone to sleep then use the Heal." Tomoyo said. "Right" Sakura said looking nervous.

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Syaoran stiffened. He felt power clear across the hospital. _Her_ power. He straightened in the chair he was sitting on., The Sleep, he thought as little sparkles of magic floated into the cafeteria putting anyone who made contact with any of it down for a nice long nap. Using his magic, he created a barrier, protecting him from Sleep's magic. As he walked out of the cafeteria, the sparkles parted as if her were Moses parting the sea. In the hall he saw doctors, nurses and patients alike sleeping on the floors. Walking quickly he went into Fa Ling's room to find her sound asleep in her bed and on the floor at the foot of her bed lay Meiling, curled up into a little ball mumbling incoherently in her sleep. Syaoran took a seat into a chair beside Fa Ling's bed and waited. Sakura should be making her appearance sometime soon. About ten minutes after every one had fallen asleep, the door opened again, it wasn't Sakura but Tomoyo, her Camera in her hand, she walked cautiously into the room and almost tripped over Meiling, glaring at the sleeping girl, she walked into the shadows where Fa Ling wouldn't be able to see her even she woke up. Syaoran, feigning sleep, looked over and saw an excited smirk on Tomoyo's face. Then there came a light tapping on the Large window. Fa Ling was awake and alert instantly. Syaoran looked on, amused, she hadn't woken when Tomoyo nearly crashed and very near tripped on Meiling but she was wide awake when there was almost an inaudible tap on the window. He would have laughed if he weren't holding his breath. As soon as Fa Ling opened the window, a bright light flashed, causing Meiling to turn her head an complain fuzzily about a camel threatening to eat her . Syaoran heard Tomoyo trying desperately to smother a giggle. Everything went quiet again. Then "You're here! I _knew_ you'd come!" came an excited whisper from Fa Ling as she backed away from the window. An Lovely auburn haired girl glided in smiling, emerald green eyes sparkling mysteriously as she looked at Fa Ling with kindness. "Yes, I came." Sakura said looking regal in her cream white outfit. "Will you heal me? I-I want to be okay again, so I don't make my family worry" Fa Ling said looking at the floor, wringing her little hands. Without a word she took out Heal and tossed it in front of Fa Ling. Power rose around Sakura like an Inferno. A different symbol appeared at Fa Ling's feet. The card seemed to disappear and a white sparkling wind flew around Fa Ling. Once it settled, Syaoran could feel the difference in Fa Ling, she didn't feel weak anymore, and her energy was high as well. Sakura smiled, but that smile turned to a worried frown as she felt a incredibly strong force around her. Fa Ling gasped in horror as she was suddenly incased in a large gem like-prison and hurtled outside, similar gem-like prisons incased Meiling, Tomoyo, and Syaoran. Meiling startled awake by the sudden movement looked down and started to screech when she saw that she wasn't an the ground. Syaoran growled and drew his sword, but before he could do anything, there was a sudden crash.

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Sakura saw that Fa Ling, and Tomoyo were both trapped in those gems and looked to Eriol to help. To her horror she saw that his arms were covered in blood and there was a wound on his forehead. He hung with chains locking around his wrists and ankles and was tied between two nearby trees. He was unconscious. Kero, in his true form was also tied up in chains, this time, he was hanging by his wings, his hind legs and forepaws dangling uselessly, he too was unconscious. Sakura stood in shocked horror as her friends were scared, shocked and hurt. A malicious giggle sounded from the trees. A woman jumped down from her perch and stood before the Mistress of the cards. She was a stunningly beautiful young woman, with almond shaped blue eyes, pale creamy skin, and lush pink lips, her dark brown hair billowing around her. Her clothes were that of ancient Chinese design, chains were draped around her body, around her arms and legs. She smirked at Sakura. "Did you do This?" Sakura demanded, looking around at her friends. 'No' The card answered. '....I did that' motioning to Eriol and Kero, 'This' the card continued, motioning to the others 'Is her work' she said pointing to a little girl emerging out of the shadows. The little girl had ebony hair up to her waist, and clear eyes, one blue, the other one green. A fire opal was embedded into her forehead, flickering different colors when hit by the light. She wore a green kimono tempered by blue, the sash of her kimono had symbols on them. She giggled, her laugh sounding like that of a child's pure delighted laugh, tinkling and light, but her eyes glimmered wickedly. She jumped onto Fa Ling's gem and raised her hand up. Lightning shot out of the sky and into the little girl's hand, coursing down her body and entering the gem, hitting the little being inside. Fa Ling screamed in pure agony her body shaking from the shock of electricity. There was yet another presence that had not made itself known. Sakura looked wildly around. There! Sitting on top of the hospital roof was a silver haired beauty with large Ice-blue eyes, she was dressed in all black and her pale skin accented the little amused smirk she was wearing. In her hand was a scythe-like glaive, it's blade was intricately designed, masking the weapon real purpose. 'How amusing, The card Mistress can't even stand up to these weaklings...... how will you stand up against me?' The card asked. Sakura looked at all three cards and a feeling of hopelessness came over her. She couldn't even stand up to Warrior and now she was faced with _three_ other cards that she knew nothing about.

As if he read her mind, Kero moaned and looked up "S-Sak...ura...." He wheezed "The little girl is....the...Confine...the...the one sitting.....on the building is...The Wraith and.. the other...the other one is..." Kero tried to get the last words out but the unknown card flicked her fingers and the binds that kept him in place tightened making Kero gasp out in agony. Sakura stared at the three cards before her, anger beginning to fill her veins. They did this to the people she cared about, and she wouldn't let them have the satisfaction of knowing that they had won,...because they hadn't. With a cry she raised her dragon pendant and chanted new words that she herself didn't know she knew. _"Raising moon, Setting Stars, I pledge myself to thee, the Celestial Maiden, Creator of heaven and Earth. Unleash the Blade that will help me conquer these who you have released in this realm, By our Contract....Come Forth, Dragon Sword!" _Energy gathered around the floating pendant, a whirlwind of magic, it exploded and all that was left was the Blade that would help her get her friends back to safety. 

The Wraith card looked not worried, but amused, and a tad bit impressed, but not worried. 'Do you think pretty words will save you? Let's see if that's all they are, pretty words' In a flash all three cards lunged at the lone Card Mistress, bombarding her with their individual attacks. Sakura closed her eyes and expected to be seeing a bright white light but instead she heard the metallic clang of swords. She opened her eyes, and there was the one thing she wasn't expecting. The Warrior. She glared at the opposing cards 'Leave!' she barked at them 'I was here, you have no right taking what I was first to challenge!' 'Oh get over it Warrior! The sooner we get rid of her the sooner we can get back to what we were doing!' Confine snarled back childishly. Three cards started to bicker about how annoying the other was, until Wraith, who was out of the argument, growled 'Stop this! You're acting like Children!' Confine harrumphed at that, but fell silent. 'I want her _dead_' Wraith said. as she shifted her frosty gaze back at the card mistress. All at once they lunged at her, their power being too much for Sakura to handle. Sakura fell to her knees, battered, bruised, bleeding, and nearly unconscious in a matter of seconds. She closed her eyes ready to end it all. "SAKURA!" A male voice yelled. Sakura's eyes snapped open, she knew that voice! She forced herself to look at where the call had come from, the man in the gem. Recognition dawned. "Syaoran.....?"

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End of chapter two! Please don't blame me if it's bad... I was rushed. Review! I'll try and get chapter three done quickly. STAY TUNED!!!!!!! 


	3. The First Battle

Thank you for being patient with me, I had a bad case of writer's block these past days/weeks. But I finally got out of it after some major brain wracking. Anyways here is the third chapter of my oh-so-wonderful story. HERE WE GO!

oh...and...**Disclaimer: I do NOT own CCS, please don't sue me, thanx!**

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Last time: 'I want her _dead_' Wraith said. as she shifted her frosty gaze back at the card mistress. All at once they lunged at her, their power being too much for Sakura to handle. Sakura fell to her knees, battered, bruised, bleeding, and nearly unconscious in a matter of seconds. She closed her eyes ready to end it all. "SAKURA!" A male voice yelled. Sakura's eyes snapped open, she knew that voice! She forced herself to look at where the call had come from, the man in the gem. Recognition dawned. "Syaoran.....?"

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Chapter 3: The First Battle

Syaoran stared in dismay as the Sakura took in the repeated blows to her back without seeming to notice the intense pain she was going through. "Syaoran....? Is that really you?" Sakura choked out through happy tears. He had come back! Even if he hadn't come back for her, he did come back, and Sakura was happy to see that he looked healthy. "Syaoran...you're here...I hope you're not a mirage..._please_ don't be a mirage" Sakura begged, ignoring the painful blows that were continuing to assault her. "Sakura! I'm not a mirage! I'm here! Capture those cards or they'll kill you! Please!" Syaoran said, a sheen of unshed tears in his eyes. Sakura's attention snapped back to the task at hand. Sword ready, she summoned her first attack card. _"Arrow! Attack Confine!" _Sakura commanded as she forced herself to stand up. The Arrow card burst out of it's card with enthusiasm, at the thought of having a fight with a strong opponent. Confine's eyes widened as Arrow drew it's bow and fired toward her. 'Hey!' Confine protested, as she jumped out of the way, centimeters before she was hit 'What did I ever do to you?!' With that Confine threw what looked like crystals at Arrow, as they got closer to it, the sparkling gem-like substance grew to accommodate it's new prisoner. Sakura stared, in obvious shock that Arrow would get captured so quickly, She tried again, this time with four of her strongest cards _"Firey, Windy, Earthy, Watery! Release and dispel!" _The four cards exploded from their false forms looking very different from the time that they were captured. They looked stronger and even more powerful then they were before. Right now though these cards were the strongest she had. Sakura prayed that their power would be enough to seal even one Miracle Card. Wraith looked on with amusement, 'Well, now this gets interesting!' she cried enthusiastically as she charged at Windy. _"_ _Windy! Create a binding chain!" _Sakura commanded, pointing to Confine. Windy looked at it's oncoming attacker, blinked twice, then completely ignored her. Wraith glared at Windy in pure rage that anyone would take her lightly. Windy circled Confine and bound her tightly. 'This isn't fair!" the childlike card complained, as she struggled vigorously against Windy. "Let my friends go," Sakura said "Please...I'm the one you want, leave my friends out of this" Sakura begged. Confine watched her intently, no longer trying to fight Windy. 'You would give your life...? But Why?' The little girl asked, thoroughly confused. "They're my friends. They'd do the same for me" Sakura said, tears flowing down her face. The Wraith card stood behind Sakura, glaive raised, and ready to strike. Firey stopped attacking the unknown card just in time to save her mistress from getting cut in two. Swooping down, Firey tackled Wraith out of the way and began to focus her attacks on the fallen card. 

Confine's eyes widened, Firey had saved her mistress...without even being ordered to do so. Why? She looked Sakura again. The Card Mistress was no longer paying attention to her, but had her gaze fixed at the Firey, her eyes had gone very wide, very slowly she reached for another card. _"Thunder! Aid Firey!"_ a flash of lightning hit the card in her hand. The Card had vanished, and in it's place was the Thunder beast, Raju. Looking at the his upset mistress, Raju felt pure rage at whomever caused her this pain. Shooting out with a speed only lightning possessed, the thunder beast lodged it's sharp fangs into Wraith's hand. Confine looked at Windy, who was no longer paying attention to her, but was watching her mistress, looking distressed at not being able to comfort her. Confine suddenly understood. 'Ummm....Card Mistress..? I-I'm sorry, I never meant to cause you any pain, I just wanted to fit in with the others' Confine looked down, she had been so lonely, and when Wraith and the others had told her that they would take care of her, only if she helped them kill the Card Mistress, she had jumped at the chance of having friends. Sakura smiled faintly and pointed her sword at the Card. "You won't be alone anymore, Confine, I promise" Sakura said, before she chanted. _"Return to the forms that you were once condemned, Miracle Card" _Sakura said. Confine, smiled one final fleeting smile at her new mistress and returned to her Card from.

The gem-like prison encasing her friends and the arrow Card vanished. Sakura smiled in relief that her friends were safe and sound. _"SAKURA, WATCH OUT!" _Syaoran's voice rang out. Sakura turned around to see the Wraith Card coming in fast, Scythe raised and ready to attack. _"Raiden Shorai!" _Syaoran snarled and a bolt of the purest lightning shot from the sky hitting Wraith and causing it to give a shriek of pain. 

Syaoran lunged at Wraith, the Card dodged, only millimeters away from getting it's head hacked off by the raged Wolf. Wraith focused it's attention on the now attacking Syaoran, he was strong, too strong for any normal human,. He had to be taken out first. 

Syaoran had never in his life felt this angry. Never in his life had he wanted to kill anything as much as he wanted to kill that Card. _"Raiden Shorai!" _Syaoran growled, causing another bolt of lightning to come crashing down from the heavens and causing another shriek of pure anguish to emit itself from Wraith's lips. "Syaoran! Stop!" Sakura's voice echoed through his brain. Taking his eyes off the Card he saw his precious Sakura look at him in shock. "Seal it!" Syaoran yelled her as he dodged Wraith's attack. Sakura nodded numbly at him, and raised her sword. "_Return to the forms that you were once condemned, Miracle Card!"_

'Seems we've underestimated you, Card mistress.' The Warrior smiled. 'Good, then I will have more fun with this.....I'll see you again Card Mistress' she said as she bounded off, leaving the unknown card to fend for herself. 'Traitor...' the unnamed card mumbled quietly. "Don't tell me that you're going to run too." Syaoran mocked, still steaming about the fact that those....those, _cards,_ rough handled Sakura so badly and she still didn't want them to get hurt. Those cards don't _deserve _to have sweet, innocent, loving, kind-hearted Sakura as their master. 'I trusted Wraith,' the card growled. 'But I didn't know she would be such a weakling'

Sakura growled softly. No one called her cards weak, not even the cards that wanted to kill her. "Well, let's see how 'weak' she really is then, shall we?" Sakura smiled grimly, feeling her supply of magic running at an all time low, she was beginning to feel light-headed, but she shook it off and grabbed her newly captured card. _"With the blessings of the Celestial maiden, I, Sakura, you master summon thee from thy chains, Wraith, Come forth!" _Sakura collapsed on her knees from the lack of energy. Silently, the Sakura cards moved to her side and returned to their card forms with the unspoken request from their Mistress. Wraith burst out from her card form, her Scythe held and ready, grinning. 'Weak, am I?' Wraith asked, her blue eyes cold. She lunged at the unknown card with her Scythe raised, the unknown card dodged, letting the scythe slam into the ground. 'Without me, you would be nothing, Pain' Wraith snarled, revealing the identity of the card. "Pain?" Sakura echoed, glancing, at the bloodied Eriol and Kero, she realized it could be no other card. 

Tomoyo, who had been trying to comfort Fa Ling, traced her friend's gaze. When her eyes settled onto her blood covered boyfriend she began to scream. "ERIOL?!" Tomoyo's eyes were wide and horrified. Her hand clamped over her mouth as her amethyst eyes overflowed with anguished tears. "Sakura, _do_ something!" Tomoyo begged, not taking her eyes away from her boyfriend. 

Sakura stared helplessly at her friend. What could she do? She looked around frantically. Thinking hard, she drew out two Sakura cards. "_Water_!" Water drenched the pain card. 'What was that?' The Pain asked 'I'm not going to melt, if that's what you were going for' Pain smirked. "No" Sakura smiled grimly. " I wanted to see if you cooked to medium rare, or extra crispy." With that she took her second card and called _"Thunder!" _Bolt after bolt of blue-white light crashed to onto Pain. _"Return to the forms you once condemned, Miracle Cards!" _as soon as the Pain return to it's card from, Sakura collapsed, completely exhausted.Tomoyo looked nervously from her boyfriend to Her best friend in the entire world, unsure who was more hurt. "Go to him," Syaoran said, gingerly picking up the fallen Card Mistress. Wraith waited anxiously, nervously wringing her hands. 'She's alright?' the Card asked, worry etched into her face. "So you're worried about her, now ?" Syaoran growled softly, still haven't yet forgiven the card's attack on Sakura. 'She came to my defense, she lent me power, even though she didn't have any reason to. She protected my honor, you have no idea how guilty I feel for trying to hurt her' Wraith snapped, looking coldly at Syaoran. 'I don't exactly like you all that much either, the reason I'm here is for her' Wraith added when she saw the look of clear dislike in Syaoran's gaze. 

"Are you alright, Fa Ling?" Syaoran asked, worry was evident in his voice. "What happened?" Fa Ling said looking at Eriol, then Tomoyo, her eyes widened when she saw the lion-like animal with wings, "What's that?" she asked pointing to Kero. Syaoran smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. If her curiosity wasn't harmed then she was going to be alright. "I'll explain later" Syaoran said, ruffling her hair. "You better." Fa Ling sighed. Shaking his head he looked at Meiling, who was helping Tomoyo. "Are you alright Meiling?" Syaoran asked. As annoying as she was, Meiling had a good heart, she just tended to get possessive and jealous. Meiling gave him a trembling smile. "I couldn't see anything inside that thing," she said, talking about the gem that had kept her in place "All I saw was the wall of the thing. But I heard you yelling, maybe only people with magic can see through that gem thing....." Meiling offered him another smile that threatened to turn into a sob, before she turned and helped Tomoyo get Eriol on his feet. "G-Good work descendent" Eriol stammered, swaying unsteadily. "What happened to you?" Syaoran asked looking him in the eyes. "It's not like you to get beat up by a card..." Syaoran said. Eriol sighed "That Card, Her name was Pain? She snuck up on Kerberos and me. They wanted to 'dispose of the Card Mistress'" Eriol explained. 

"All three of them attacked you?" Syaoran asked.

"No"

"Then, just that one Card?" 

Eriol nodded, affirmative. "Be careful descendent, these Cards want to get rid of the Card Mistress, they like being free, they don't want to return to their card forms.....Their greatest desire is to see Sakura's corpse"

"Over my dead body" Syaoran snarled quietly

Eriol sighed. "If we're not careful, that's all that will be left of us."

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That's it for Chapter three! tee hee, close call right? Hopefully our heroine Sakura will come out on top! Anyway I hope you liked this Chapter. I'm working on two stories, if you liked this story, then please read my other CCS fic 'A Song Twice Over' Please review! 


	4. Through the eyes of a Broken Heart

Okay, I'm here again and I have come bearing the fourth installment of Awaiting Destiny. I really want to thank the people who reviewed. And I'm sorry for the delay. It couldn't be helped, What with vacations and family trips and all. But anyway, enough reminiscing about the past, just read and enjoy the fourth chapter.

.......*sigh*...I keep forgetting these......**Disclaimer: I Do not own CCS, just the plot and some of the original characters, please don't sue me.**

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Last Time: "All three of them attacked you?" Syaoran asked.

"No"

"Then, just that one Card?" 

Eriol nodded, affirmative. "Be careful descendent, these Cards want to get rid of the Card Mistress, they like being free, they don't want to return to their card forms.....Their greatest desire is to see Sakura's corpse"

"Over my dead body" Syaoran snarled quietly

Eriol sighed. "If we're not careful, that's all that will be left of us."

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Chapter 4: Through the Eyes of a Broken Heart

Syaoran stared out the window. He was seated on the couch of the apartment he occupied when he was younger. The soothing sounds of Rain falling filled his ears. Syaoran watched the window, without really seeing it, what he saw was Sakura being attack by Wraith, Pain and Confine. His elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together, he rested his mouth on the fist he created. He closed his eyes, as if hoping he could block out the horrible images of Sakura and the cards attacking her. What if he hadn't accepted his mission to get Fa Ling? Would Sakura be dead? Accusations and 'What if' thoughts entered his mind. "Syaoran? It's Two in the morning, what are you still doing up?" a familiar voice asked nearby. Syaoran looked up to see a worried frown framing the face of his cousin/fiancée. Meiling had a glass of water in her hand, setting it down on the table, she sat on the armchair to his right. "You're still worried about Sakura." It wasn't a question. When Syaoran didn't answer she sighed. "You know that she'll make it right? Kinomoto is much to strong to let a few Cards stand in her way." surprisingly, Meiling's voice seemed genuinely sincere. After years of loathing the Card Mistress for her power and her ability to get anyone to be open and friendly with her in 10 minutes, Meiling was telling him that Sakura was going to be alright without a single note of venom or dislike in her voice?

Syaoran's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Meiling sighed, knowing what he was thinking. "I'll go give Kinomoto her medicine." Meiling said, picking up the cup of water that she had set on the table, and casually walking out of the room. Syaoran blinked, he wasn't going to argue with her. Despite what the Clan elders had said about her not having magic, well, they were wrong. Although Meiling was no where near as strong as Sakura or Syaoran, she did have magic, but not the type that Syaoran possessed. Meiling's magic allowed her to use herbs, for healing, sleep, and other things, her magic wasn't meant to be used for attacking of defense, simply to heal, or more accurately, ease the pain. It was a very small amount of magic, and wouldn't help her in dire situations and wouldn't be detectable to basically anyone. She couldn't light fires or save the world, only strengthen the potency of her herbs, just a little more then normal, but that was the extent of her magic. 

Meiling sighed again, she liked the magic that she had. It just didn't help her very much. She couldn't sense anything. It was like she didn't have power at all. Syaoran had said it was a very, very_, very _small amount of magic. Meiling smiled ruefully, it wasn't enough to help Syaoran....but she might be able to strengthen Sakura. Walking silently, she opened Syaoran's bedroom door. Syaoran had insisted that Sakura sleep in his room and that he take the couch. 

Sleeping somewhat uncomfortably, Sakura shifted, her breathing was uneven. Meiling took a thing that looked like a teapot, only it had four spouts, one on each corner of it and no handle out of the small bag she had carried with her. Setting it down on the table beside Syaoran's bed, she put an assortment of leaves inside the pot, lit a match and put inside the pot. A milky white mist came out of the spouts, the fog smelled of roses, as it wafted across the room. As Sakura inhaled it, her breathing slowed to an even pace, a small smile adorned her pretty face as she slept. Meiling smiled in satisfaction as she made her way out of the room as quietly as she had made her way in. Walking to The guest room, where Fa Ling was sleeping, she took a quick look inside. Meiling blinked in surprise to see the little girl propped on the windowsill watching the rain fall. Fa Ling looked in her direction, her eyes shiny, "Is Sakura going to be alright?" She asked immediately. Meiling nodded silently, "She'll be alright, but you, on the other hand need to sleep." Fa Ling grinned sheepishly, "Okay, Good night, Meiling-sama" 

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As Meiling walked into her room, she couldn't help but feel a little envious of Sakura. Syaoran loved her so much, that he was out there stressing himself to death over something that wasn't his fault. Not only that, but she had the loving care and devotion of her friends and family.

Meiling was distracted from her reverie, by and unusual sounding 'thump' by her window. Meiling glanced up, curious, she walked over to her window and looked out, she blinked, there was a little girl outside her window, a crystal ball floated between her palms, and stack of what looked like tarot cards floating around the crystal ball. Meiling stared into terra cotta eyes, that were so much like her own. The little girl's hair was woven intricately into a Chinese style hairdo that would probably have been used in ancient China. The little girl smiled, and disintegrated into a fog, which floated near Meiling. 

The Last thing Meiling heard was the sound of a child's laughter echoing through her bones, before everything turned black.

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"Hoeee?!" Sakura's voice echoed through the apartment. Syaoran grinned, Sakura was awake. Fa Ling walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes groggily, looking up, she smiled, "I take it Sakura's awake?" she asked tilting her head curiously to one side. Syaoran grinned, "Seems that way." and he went back to work on making breakfast. 

Meanwhile, the girl in question was looking around the room, she was currently in. Sakura glanced around, this was defiantly Syaoran's room. His aura was in here not to mention his smell, the smell of Sandalwood mixed with the smell of fall. Sakura stumbled out if the room and made her way to the kitchen and two pairs of eyes greeted her. Syaoran smiled slightly, "Are you feeling up to breakfast this morning?" he asked, somewhat worried at the look of exhaustion still on her face. "Uh-huh, I'm famished" Sakura offered him a somewhat watery smile. "Um...if you don't mind me asking, how did I get here?"

Syaoran opened his mouth to reply when Fa Ling cut in "Well, Eriol-sama used some of his powers to convince the doctors that you were well enough to go home, so when the doctors called your father to tell him that he could pick you up, Tomoyo-san asked if you could come over to sleep at her house instead, since she didn't want to disturb your father with his important work and all, and she said that you wanted to come with her, since she was already there and all, but then Syaoran said, that since we were closer to his apartment, he'd take you here instead. And Tomoyo took Eriol-sama with her.....Oh, and she took the big Lion-man-thing, with her too," Fa Ling explained, proud that she was able to remember all that her cousin had told her. Sakura frowned slightly, "Big Lion-man-thing?" she asked looking a bit confused. "She means the stuffed animal." Syaoran supplied, trying to suppress a grin. Sakura chuckled at their names for her Guardian Beast. "Oh, you mean Kero?" Sakura asked.

"Isn't that what I just said? Weren't you listening?" Fa Ling demanded. 

Syaoran chuckled in spite of himself, "Fa Ling....." He trailed off, his little cousin was every bit as stubborn as he was. 

"What?"

"Never mind"

__

"What?"

"Nothing,"

"Syaoran!"

"What?"

"Aaagh! Never mind!"

"Never Mind, what?"

"Syaoran!"

__

"What?" 

Sakura giggled, amused at the playful banter going on between Syaoran and Fa Ling. She could really get used to hearing things like this in the morning. She froze, and mentally slapped herself, what was she thinking? Syaoran was engaged! Planned to get married to Li Meiling! For all eternity.... She had no right to think she had a spot in their perfectly planned life. Suddenly her appetite deserted her and the misery she had felt through the years came at full force. She felt tears burning the side of her eyes, begging to be set free. She forced them down, she didn't want Fa Ling to see her crying, and least of all Syaoran. Sakura plastered a stiff smile on her lips and looked up again, only to find that Fa Ling and Syaoran had stopped arguing and were currently looking at her with odd expressions. "W-what?" Sakura asked nervously, glancing at the floor. "What's wrong?" Syaoran asked, worry etched into his handsome face.

Her heart ached. It hurt so much, to see him look at her with such worry, only to know that he didn't feel anything toward her, other then the feelings of friendship he held for her. "Nothing!" Sakura said, not meeting his eyes. "Sakura---" the sound of the door bell ringing stopped him from saying what ever it was that he was about to say. "Ooo! I'll get it! I'll get it!" Fa Ling chirped as she jumped up and down. The Little girl laughed and bounded out of the room, twirling in happy little circles as she made her way to the door. Syaoran was still watching Sakura with worried eyes. She had gone pale and refused to look him in the face. "Sakura? Are you all right?" he asked, watching as she began to wring her hands together. "I'm fine," Sakura insisted, suddenly finding the counter top very interesting to look at. Syaoran opened his mouth to argue that she possibly couldn't feel well if she was wringing her hands together, acting like a scared rabbit, and looking like she had seen a ghost. But the squeal of pure joy jarred him from making a rebuttal to her 'I'm fine'.

"Ooh! Ooh! Lookie lookie! It's a...it's a _cat_!" Fa Ling came bouncing back into the room, cradling a little black kitten. Syaoran smiled, glad that his cousin was acting her age again. he remembered how she tried acting mature when she was diagnosed with her disease. It was funny, how some people wanted little children to act like grown-ups, but Syaoran was different, he really didn't know why though, he figured it was because during his childhood, he didn't have the opportunity to act like a child. For him, it was all, train, train, train. "...yaoran, Syaoran! Are you listening?" Fa Ling demanded. 

"Hmmm? What? Sorry, I kinda spaced out there. What were you saying?" Syaoran asked apologetically.

"I was asking if I could _keep _her" Fa Ling said. "So long as you take care of her, I don't see the problem." Syaoran said, without giving it a second thought. 

"Uh...Syaoran?" Sakura asked, looking at the cat.

"Yes?"

"Look at the cat's eyes"

Syaoran looked. He inhaled sharply. The cat's eyes were _purple_. That wasn't natural...at all. He looked at Sakura, her gaze was still transfixed on the cat. 

Sakura probed the cat with her mind. A little trick she'd learned from Kero. Sakura felt a sharp pain slice through her head. Someone....someone with a purple aura was causing this. Sakura tried to tear her gaze from the cat's and found that she couldn't. Then she heard a cold, cruel, silky voice of a woman, inside her head.

__

It's coming. The voice said

__

What's coming? Sakura thought 

"....akura..." Sakura vaguely heard Syaoran calling her.

__

Beware...for it draws closer.

What are you talking about?

It will take someone from you....

Who? Sakura swayed, the pain was making it very hard for her to think clearly

"Sakura! _Sakura!"_ Syaoran's voice

__

You will lose...if you are not prepared.....

Prepared For what!? Sakura was getting nervous now and the pain in her head was gowing. 

There was a cold chuckle. _The Test....._

"Sakura!!" Syaoran cried 

"Wha--?" Sakura said before wave after wave of pain assaulted her head. 

Sakura collapsed to the floor. Her body unmoving.

****

"_SAKURA!_" 

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Done with the 4th chapter! Tell me what you think. Love it? Hate it? there are a few unanswered little things here. I'll try to get the next chapter started soon. For now, Ja! 


	5. Warnings

Hi Hi! I'm back and I come bearing Gifts! ....well no....not really, Actually I just came with Chapter five. Thanks to all those people who reviewed. You truly have spoiled me with your wonderful comments. I'm glad that you like my story. To tell you the truth I didn't think very many people would review, but thanks to your support, I've found the inspiration to keep writing. Read and enjoy!

Oh yeah..... and...**Disclaimer: What's mine? The plot. What's theirs? Everything else. Is Life unfair?** **_yes._**

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**__**

Last Time: "Wha--?" Sakura said before wave after wave of pain assaulted her head. 

Sakura collapsed to the floor. Her body unmoving.

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"_SAKURA!_"

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Chapter 5: Warnings

Sakura was swirling in colors of bright lights, she felt weak. It was hard for her to breathe. It was very much like a dream, only it wasn't. Colors danced in her line of vision, then it shattered, like glass breaking. Sakura inhaled. _Meiling? _What was _she _doing here? "Meiling!" Sakura called. Meiling was sitting the floor, her feet curled underneath her, hands on her thighs, staring blankly into a mirror. She didn't look up when Sakura called her name. "Meiling?" Sakura tried again, this time uncertainty laced the emerald eyed girl's voice. Still the black haired woman showed no sign of hearing her. 

Sakura began to make her way to the girl, but every step she took, Meiling seemed to drift further away. Suddenly the mirror shattered, sending shards of glass in every direction, Sakura shielded her face from the jagged edges of the debris. Sakura looked around, where did Meiling go? Turning around she saw Syaoran. "What the...?" Sakura blinked. Syaoran drew his sword and stabbed it into the ground. He kneeled onto one knee, blood began to drip from his hands, his breathing became heavy, head bowed down. "Syaoran!" Sakura cried as she watched him crumple to the ground. The scene changed yet again. The little kitten that Fa Ling had found was curled in lying position, staring at her with piercing amethyst eyes. _"Time is of the essence." _It's cold voice said. Sakura began to take in gulps of air as she struggled to breathe "I don't understand" Sakura gasped. The cat chuckled, tilting his head to one side. _"Are you prepared to lose everything?" _It asked. "What?" Sakura's eyes widened. _"One chance, put aside those you love and fight for them"_

"Put aside....?" Sakura repeated, still confused.

__

"Past, Present, Future. It all depends on you. Put aside those you love in order to fight for them."

"Please..." Sakura begged "I don't understand, if I put away those I love, how will I fight for them?"

The cat smiled, and tilted her head back, closing her eyes in leisure. _"Are you prepared to lose everything? A Battle does not begin when one is expecting it. It begins once one has prepared for the worst."_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Syaoran was becoming frantic. Why wasn't she waking up? She was breathing, that was a good thing, but her breathing had slowed considerably, that was a bad thing. "Sakura." he pleaded with the unconscious woman. "Please wake up." He said as he began to gently shake her. He had moved her onto the couch and was currently sitting beside her. "Sakura-chan...." Fa Ling's tremoring voice drew he attention. Syaoran looked up. He had forgotten that Fa Ling was still there. Her brown eyes wide with fright, clutching the cat tightly. "Syaoran is she....?" her question was left unspoken. "No." Syaoran said, but there was the slightest trace of uncertainty in his voice. 

A loud crash coming from Meiling's room caught his attention. Syaoran cursed. "Fa Ling, stay with Sakura." the amber eyed boy ordered as he began walking to Meiling's room. Fa Ling nodded meekly and sat in the place that he had occupied. Syaoran made his way to Meiling's room, intent on getting mad at her for breaking whatever it was that she broke. As he opened the door, all thoughts of anger fled. What he saw horrified him. Meiling was sitting on the floor. Her hands, face, arms, everything, was covered in blood, yet she made no move to call for help, or even acknowledge his arrival. She was staring at the bits and pieces that were left of the full length that had shattered, not uttering a sound. He looked around, bewildered. Every mirror in the room was broken, shards of glass lay everywhere. "Meiling?" He asked tentatively. She slowly looked up, her eyes had gone completely blank staring straight at him, as if she was seeing something else. "Syaoran?" Meiling's voice sounded frightened although her face was expressionless. Syaoran was getting really unnerved. Meiling was still Meiling....and yet....somehow _not _Meiling. It was really freaking him out. 

Meiling returned her attention to the glass, once again ignoring the sorcerer. Syaoran began making his way to her when he heard Fa Ling's ear piercing scream. "Dammit" Syaoran growled as he rushed outside. Fa Ling was standing against the wall her eyes wide with terror as she stared at a shadow looming over Sakura. It was cloaked and all you could see was it's red-green eyes staring hungrily at the card Mistress. The kitten was on the floor hissing, it's violet eyes blazing. "What the---" The shadow turned it's attention to Syaoran and lunged before the startled man could react. It's body evaporated into a black mist that was seemingly sucked into Syaoran's skin. He blinked rapidly, reaching for the Card Mistress. "Sa....kura..." he gasped before he passed out. 

Fa Ling stared in wide eyed horror. _"Syaoran!"_ she screeched. She rushed towards him, shaking him with all her might. _"Syaoran! Syaoran! WAKE UP, Syaoran!!" _Fa Ling sniffed. She picked up the Kitten and rushed into Meiling's room, hoping to find help, only to discover the girl covered in blood and lying unconscious on the floor. 

Fa Ling backed up against the door, sinking to the floor, sobbing quietly. She was alone. And she had no idea what to do. She hugged the kitten close to her body. "What am I gonna do?" Fa Ling wailed. _Get help._ Fa Ling's head snapped up. Who said that? She looked around the room. "Hello?" Fa Ling asked, her voice trembling. "Who's there?" 

Silence. 

__

Me. I'm here. 

Fa Ling looked around frantically. "Who?"

__

That's not important. Get help.

"Help? oh, of course! But from whom?" Fa Ling said, trying to act mature and not scared of her current position, which was very hard to do.

There was a long pause, as if whoever was talking was thinking about who would help them and not freak out over this. Finally the voice answered, somewhat hesitantly. 

__

Clow Reed......he'll help you. 

Fa Ling stared blankly in confusion. "But -but, Clow Reed is _dead._"

She blinked. Once. Twice. Then she slapped her forehead. "Eriol-san! Of course!" she rushed out of Meiling's room and ran into her own to get into something suitable for going outside. 

After dressing into comfy green sweatpants and a fuzzy red sweater, she ran and got her backpack, and stuffed it with random things that she could find, food, some money, a map, and other miscellaneous things. Fa ling walked into the kitchen and got her ring of keys hanging from the key rack. Her little hands trembled as she heard thunder rumbling outside, rushing back into her room she grabbed her Chinese style umbrella. Fa ling had never been more scared in her life. Eriol-san was staying at Tomoyo-san's house, and her house was on the other side of the city, a three hour walk. She couldn't take the train, she'd never been on one before, and she didn't know where to stop and where to stay on. Besides they probably wouldn't let a little girl get on the train by herself. She was stuck with walking. 

Fa Ling took a deep breath and stepped outside of the apartment, just as rain began to pour. Fa Ling sighed and looked down at the side purse she was wearing, the kitten tucked safely inside. "Just my luck huh? I'm sent to get help, and nature decides to make things more interesting by sending us a storm" Fa Ling shook her head. 

She walked downtown and saw that it was almost deserted, because of the rain, people had decided to put off their shopping, an therefore making it look like a ghost town. Fa Ling looked around the corners in caution, she had never in her life felt more alone then she had now. Uncertain worries came screeching into her head. What if she went to the wrong house? Could that voice be trusted? Was leaving Sakura, Syaoran, and Meiling really the wisest thing to do? What if they woke up and she wasn't there? Fighting the cold swell of dread, she took a deep calming breath and continued to walk. Looking at the stores to try to calm the butterflies fluttering frantically in her stomach, Fa Ling clutched her umbrella to her, to keep out the cold rain and munched on the few snacks she had packed. 

After about an hour's walk she decided to take a break, she was exhausted, and she was hungry, having eaten all her food already. She walked into a nearby cafe, she looked around uneasily. The people here didn't look very friendly, in fact they were looking at her quite unpleasantly. Swallowing the large lump that had formed in her throat she walked to the counter, the person at the counter was a fragile looking girl who smiled at Fa Ling timidly. "Hello" she said kindly "How, can I help you?" Fa Ling smiled, at least not all the people here were mean looking. "Can I have some hazelnut tea please?" Fa Ling asked. She thought for a minute, then added "And fried rice and an order of Ra-men and a slice of pumpkin pie." Fa Ling paused again, hesitant then asked "Would it be too much to ask for some cream for my friend?" She asked gesturing to the kitten. The girl blinked, then smiled, "Of course not" she answered in a soft voice. Fa ling walked over to a secluded area, still uncomfortable with the stares she was getting. When her order arrived, she temporarily forgot the stares as she ate. She looked to the other side of the room when she finished her Ra-men and fried rice. There was a person there that was cloaked, he had what looked like an ornate staff, decorated with rings, that made a soft chime-like sound when he moved. Fa Ling's attention was drawn away from the man by some unfriendly looking men walking in her direction. 

When the men got to her their leader grinned, and evil looking grin, "Where's your mother?" he asked. Fa Ling's first reaction was to panic, but then her years training as a member of the Li clan kicked in. "She's dead" Fa Ling answered coolly, then ate a mouthful of pumpkin pie as though she expected them to go away. Although she had taken her eyes off him, Fa Ling was well aware of his presence, another thing she had learned from being a member of the Li Clan. "How's about your father?" the man growled. "He's dead too." Fa Ling said nonchalantly, shrugging as if it didn't matter and continued to eat. All around them movement stopped. The man's eyes narrowed, "I don't like your attitude" he snarled. Fa Ling shrugged again "That's your problem, not mine." The man grabbed her still hot tea and spilled half of it on the floor, as if to teach her who was boss. Whatever message he was trying to convey, Fa Ling ignored it. "That's supposed to go in your mouth, you know, not on the floor" Fa Ling said, looking mildly amused. The men behind him looked from him to Fa Ling with nervous eyes. "And you'll have to pay for that too" Fa Ling informed him, her face unreadable. "Don't cross me, you little brat." He growled. Fa Ling sighed. "You crossed me first, or did you manage to forget that already?" 

"I don't think you know who your messing with"

"I don't care."

"That's it. Your asking for it." With that the man lunged at her. Fa Ling kicked off her chair and did an elaborate back flip, she slammed her thumbs into the soft spot of either side of his neck as she landed behind him. His gave a surprised grunt, his eyes rolled back and he fell forward in a dead faint. Fa Ling clapped her hands together as if she were getting rid of dust. She was standing on his back. Fa Ling looked at the mug of tea she had left, looked at the man, then poured the rest of the mug's contents onto the man's back. Looking over to the counter she said, "Could you please put my lunch on his tab?" The girl at the counter looked astonished, then she grinned. "Sure" 

Fa Ling looked at her and grinned "And while your at it, could you pack a French silk pie and a Pumpkin Pie and some cold Ice tea in a bag to go?" 

The girl blinked. "two _entire_ pies?" She asked looking dazed. 

Fa ling tilted her head to one side. "The French silk pie is for my cousin, and the pumpkin pie is for me." she looked at the man she was standing on. "Add all of that to his tab too" 

Fa Ling made her way out of the Cafe when she collected her food. Ignoring the astonished stares of the men as they parted to let her through. Fa Ling looked into the corner, the man was gone. Must have left before the trouble started. Fa Ling thought. 

She calmly walked out of the Cafe and when she turned the corner, grinned widely, she jumped up and down feeling proud of herself. The Kitten, walking beside her stopped, tilting her head to one side, a silent question. "My Frist Fight!" Fa Ling chirped, "And I won!" Scooping the kitten into her arms she skipped along the sidewalk. Still grinning. Syaoran had taught her to fight. She remembered him telling her to memorize all the pressure points in the body and what happens when they are pressed. "Memorize them Fa Ling," he had said, " If you can't win in strength, you can win by having more knowledge then your opponent." He had been very patient in teaching her, not getting mad of frustrated when she did something wrong, just correcting her and moving on. "My first fight and I won!" Fa Ling giggled, "Wait till I tell Syao--" A shadow fell over them "--ran?" Looking up she saw a man that looked like the one that she saw in the Cafe, only without the staff. Where had he put it? 

A male voice asked "What are you---?" Then he saw the Cat, "You-" he reached for her. Fa Ling backed away.

"What...?" She squeaked.

"Where is she?" The man growled. 

"Who?" 

"Give her _back_!" he snarled, making another lunged for Fa Ling. 

Fa Ling gasped as she felt hands go around her neck. 

__

"Syao---" 

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Oh dear....maybe I was a little harsh on Fa Ling......oh well.. Well what do you think? Like it? Hate it? I must know! R&R and sit and wait patiently for the next chapter. Pay attention now, this is where it gets a little confusing (tee hee, I'm so mean...making you wait and all.) 


	6. The Guardian of the Celestial Cards

Hello all! *waves* I'm sorry that my updates haven't been as frequent as usual (if they were ever frequent at all ^-^' ). Being in high school sucks....well no not really, but they pile on mounds and mounds of homework on you that I can't seem to find the time to write...er...type.. my time is squished between school, dance classes on Saturday and more homework on Sunday. And there's also the fact that my dad doesn't want me to go online as much.... But enough about my paranoid lifestyle, I have chapter 6 and hopefully I'll be able to get this up before Christmas. 

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Disclaimer: Not Mine, Clamp's. Get it? Good.

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**__**

Last Time : "My first fight and I won!" Fa Ling giggled, "Wait till I tell Syao--" A shadow fell over them "--ran?" 

Looking up she saw a man that looked like the one that she saw in the Cafe, only without the staff. Where had he put it? 

A male voice asked "What are you---?" Then he saw the Cat, "You-" he reached for her. Fa Ling backed away.

What...?" She squeaked.

"Where is she?" The man growled. 

"Who?" 

"Give her _back_!" he snarled, making another lunged for Fa Ling. 

Fa Ling gasped as she felt hands go around her neck. 

__

"Syao---" 

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Chapter 6: The Guardian of the Miracle Cards 

"Syaoran!" Sakura bolted upright breathing hard, that wasn't right! It couldn't have been Syaoran who was trying to kill her....could it? She shook her head vehemently. No Syaoran wouldn't do that. Sakura blinked. Why was it so quiet? "Fa Ling? Syaoran? Meiling?" Where were they? Looking around, Sakura's eyes widened at the sight of Syaoran lying on the floor, unconscious. Forcing her stiff body to get up, she scrambled over to him as fast as her protesting body would allow. Cradling his head, she called out his name. "Syaoran? Syaoran? Syaoran, wake up." she consoled gently, her emerald eyes watering at the sight of him, his head on her lap, looking as if he'd just gone though the gates of hell. His honey brown hair had turned a dark mahogany due to the sweat that plastered his messy hair to his forehead. His eyes were partly open and glassy with a curious touch of black rimming at the edges of those empty golden brown orbs. Sakura was shocked, and a little amused that he could still look so gorgeous and battered at the same time. "Syaoran.....?" she called out softly, brushing damp gold locks away from his eyes. Hesitantly, Sakura delicately put a hand on his cheek. "Please wake up Syaoran." Sakura's voice had a hint of a beg edged in it. Her voice dropped down to a whisper. "Please."

Sakura's attention was immediately drawn away from him when she heard a distorted sounding thump in Meiling's room. "Ouch....." Meiling whimpered as she dragged herself out form her room, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. Sakura gasped, about to jump to her feet and help the staggering girl when she realized she still had Syaoran resting in her lap. Gingerly, she put him down and rushed over to Meiling. "What happened?" Sakura asked.

"I....don't--ow-- know" Meiling winced. That Really hurt. He body felt like it had gone through a meat grinder a couple of times.

Sakura took out her pendant. _"Raising moon, Setting_

Stars, I pledge myself to thee, the Celestial Maiden, Creator of heaven and Earth. Unleash the Blade that will help me conquer these who you have released in this realm, By our Contract....Come Forth, Dragon Sword!"

Taking out her heal card she chanted. _"With the blessings of the Celestial maiden, I, Sakura, your master summon thee from thy chains, Heal, Come forth!"_

A blinding swirl of light called the unearthly maiden into form. 'What is it?' the card asked, curiously peering at her mistress. Sakura gestured to her blood covered friend. Heal's eyes widened as she saw the amount of blood the girl was loosing. 'Right!' the card said and immediately began to try and heal her. After a couple of attempts she sagged, exhausted. 'I can't....' Heal mumbled numbly. "What?" Sakura knelt anxiously beside the card. "Why not?" 

'Something is preventing me.....'

Sakura's evergreen eyes were dark with shock. "But......but, what about Meiling?" Her eyes shifted worriedly to the terra-cotta eyed girl who now decided to cling to the door to keep her from falling over with fatigue. Just as she said this, the cuts riddling the Chinese girl's body began to disappear. Meiling looked at her hands, they were flawless once again. "Thanks Kinomoto" she said. 

Sakura blinked "Don't thank me, thank Heal."

The card smiled ruefully, 'I'd like to take the credit....but I didn't do anything."

" Then how.....?" Sakura started before a soft groan drew her attention. "Syaoran!" getting up she rushed to him, helping him stand up and giving him support. "What happened?" he asked fuzzily. "That seems to be the question we've all been asking" the raspy sound that came out of Meiling's throat could have been a laugh. "Do you want Heal to help you?" Sakura asked, glancing briefly at Heal. 

"I'm fine, I'm just a little tired, that's all." Sakura looked like she was about to protest but him sagging against her stopped her from making further comment.

Meiling, now all healed, looked around. "Where's Fa Ling?"

Sakura looked startled. "She's not here....?" she glanced around. "But--"

She looked anxiously at Syaoran, then at the door, "Maybe I should go looking for her."

Meiling watched as Sakura was torn between wanting to go look for Fa Ling and staying and taking care of Syaoran. Sighing she said. "I'll look for her." Seeing the look of immense gratitude washing over Sakura's face as she said this made her smile. Syaoran was right, you just couldn't hate this girl no matter how hard you tried. Pulling on her sweater she was about to leave when she heard Sakura call her name. "Yes?" Meiling asked.

Sakura smiled hesitantly. "Be careful, Okay?"

Meiling smiled back, "You got it."

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Fa Ling felt everything begin to go black. _"Syao--ran...." _

There was an angry hiss, and the man screeched in pain and Fa ling was able to breath again. Glancing at the man, she saw him clutching his right hand, on his hand were four distinct bloody lines. Looking down she saw the kitty, hackles raised and hissing for all her worth. "Why you little.....Why do you have to be so stubborn? _Give her back!" _he snarled. "Who?" Fa Ling demanded. 

"My mistress!"

He tried to make another lunge, but was stopped by the throwing of a rock. "What the..." 

Looking in the direction the rock came from, they saw a girl. Her red eyes blazing with anger. "Step _away_ from the kid, buddy." Fixing her terra-cotta eyes on the little girl she said, with equal authority that had the little girl and cat running to her. "Fa Ling, get the cat and come _here and stay here," _she pointed to the empty place beside her. Once it was occupied by the girl and cat, she walked over to him with confidence and stared at him. "You have some nerve attacking a little girl." she glowered at him. Without another word, she punched him in the face. Staggering he said "You have no part in this!"

"Who are you to tell me whether I don't or do have a part in anything?" she dodged as he swung with his staff, back flipped and slammed her feet to his back sending him sprawling. Walking up to him she grabbed his head and asked in a broadly patient. "Who are you?" when he didn't answer she gave him a good shake. "I've had a bad day sonny and you don't want me to use you as a punching bag, now answer my question."

He mumbled something. "What? Say that again."

"I'm the guardian of the Celestial Cards....." 

Meiling made a startled noise and dropped his head.

"What......?"

End of chapter six! Yeah I know it's short but hey, things are like that sometimes. Anyway review and let me have your opinions and I'll start on chapter 7. Tee hee getting interesting huh?


	7. Snake Eyes

I've been feeling guilty for neglecting Awaiting Destiny so I've to post up Chapter 7. I've left some unanswered questions, you've got to start paying attention because it might get a little overwhelming, not that all you people aren't smart and all, that's not what I'm implying. You all are highly intelligent people capable of becoming millionaires and such so this shouldn't be to hard to follow. Review! and enjoy too.

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Disclaimer:.........what do you think? Of course I don't own it, and if you don't believe me, please see previous chapters for proof. 

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Chapter 7: Snake eyes

Sakura sat there, watching the man who proclaimed himself to be the guardian of the Miracle Cards. He was staring at his mug of hot coffee while sitting down on the sofa. Meiling had returned with this stranger and Fa Ling three hours ago, and it was just now that Sakura was had noticed him. She was too busy making sure that Syaoran wasn't seriously injured. After her inspection she was bombarded with questions. Why did she collapse all of a sudden? A question she couldn't answer herself. Why did she wake up just quickly, the only thing she could tell them that whoever or whatever made her collapse was finished getting their message through. Syaoran had gotten annoyed when she had insisted that she call Eriol and Tomoyo to make sure they were alright because Eriol had insisted right back that they come over and make sure that _they_ were alright. Fa Ling was in the kitchen giving the little kitty, whom she named Chi Sao some cream. Sakura watched the man from the corner of his eyes, he still had his hood on so she couldn't see his face, but from the way his cloak framed his body, he had some well defined muscles underneath that stuffy looking cloak. Sakura looked are his glove covered hands, they moved with grace and deliberation. From the way he was sitting, it looked like he was about an inch or two taller then Syaoran.

His Staff was leaning against the sofa as he stared listlessly into his warm drink. Abruptly his head looked up to face her. "Are you the Mistress of the Miracle Cards...?" he asked softly. 

"Yes..." Sakura said, suddenly feeling nervous. 

The stranger sighed, in an almost hopeless kind of way. "Then Misharu must have failed..."

"Excuse me...? But who's Misharu?" Sakura asked. 

The man chuckled before removing his hood. What Sakura saw made her breath catch. He was very handsome, though in her opinion he would never match Syaoran, but some others might have protested. His pitch black hair lay in a kind of orderly disarray, if there was such a thing. His dark locks reached his neck before it was tied to a short ponytail and there were two stray locks that went to his face. His eyes were like Syaoran's, the only difference was that his pupils went vertically, like a snake's and they held a wicked sparkle in them. Sakura wondered how the women of Tomeda would react if she were to take Syaoran and this man to the mall. Syaoran was the kind of guy who sent waves that screamed "Hands Off" while this man gave off ones that said "Smoldering bad Boy." Sakura was a little surprised to see that Syaoran and this man were built the same. Both their physiques would have made lesser women fall to their knees and name them their new god.

"Misharu...the woman who died trying to become the Mistress of the Celestial cards." he said.

"But...." Sakura paused. "Can you tell me your name?" 

"Koryu"

Koryu looked grim. "If you're planning on becoming the true Mistress of the Celestial cards, you have to make The Decision"

Sakura blinked "The Decision? What's that."

He sighed. "If you want to become the true Celestial Master, then you must make the final Decision after capturing the four god cards. Numerous women have died before even reaching this state. The Celestial Cards were around centuries before the Clow Cards even came into the world. I've seen women loose their lives to the merciless powers of these cards, as well as the lives of the people whom they loved."

Sakura forced a smile even as horrible images of what might happen to her family and friends flashed into her mind. "But... I'm sure that at least one person got to The Decision...surely not all of them could have died." 

"Misharu.....she got to The Decision.....but she wasn't strong enough to make it, so she ended her own life." Koryu replied a little sadly.

"Is The Decision that hard to make?" Sakura wondered out loud.

"Not if you know what you want.....you see The Decision is that you have to choose between the cards and the people you love." Koryu explained.

Sakura winced. "H-how's that?"

"You either choose between becoming the Celestial Master, and leave your friends here in this realm, or you choose to stay and the Miracle Cards are freed once more, causing havoc until another maiden tries to tame them and become the Celestial Master."

Sakura felt numb. Choose between keeping the world at peace, and leave all the people she loved behind....Or stay with them and suffer the knowledge that she had left these card to cause destruction all over the world. "I should make that decision once I come across it.....right."

Koryu smiled. "You should think about it beforehand, Misharu thought that her decision would be easy....since she didn't have any family, or friends....but in the end, she had met people during her journey to collect the cards, she even fell in love.....and when the time came for her Decision to be made ....she found that she couldn't leave them....but she knew that if she chose to stay....she would suffer the guilt that she had a chance to end a lot of the un-named deaths happening around the world and didn't. So think about it before hand and choose the decision you think feels the best."

Sakura stared at the floor. "You should get some rest..." Sakura said with an attempted face to be cheerful.

Koryu grinned sleepily. "I guess you're right...I spent three months looking for the smallest sign of the Cards...and I haven't...gotten....enough...." he trailed off as he fell asleep.

Sakura sat there. For how long, she didn't know. A voice asked. "Do you know what decision you'd make?"

Sakura's head jerked up to see Meiling lounging against the side of the kitchen door. "Meiling....how long have you been there?"

"Long enough to hear the story." Meiling smiled wryly, but seeing the look on Sakura's face, her eyes softened. She walked over to the green eyed girl and knelt beside her putting a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Do you know what to do?"

Sakura's eyes started to water as she looked at her. Then Sakura did something quite unexpected and threw herself at the terra-cotta eyed girl, sobbing. "I don't know!" Sakura cried.

"I...just...don't know..." 

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Kinda weird to end it there, I know. But I'm tired and I want to post this up before New Years so there. Anyway. Please review!. 


	8. Chi Sao, Matchmaker Kitty

I'm back. And due to the obvious serious tone in this story so far, I've decided to lighten the story, if not just a little bit. So here is Chapter 8, with a lighter tone in it's Beat. Read And Review! Also, I'd like to thank all the people who have stuck with me and been kind enough to tell me what they thought through every chapter. And since I can't exactly name all of you without taking away a substantial space from this story, I'd Just like To say. THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!!! okay....since I got that out of my system, let's start shall we? Read and Review.

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Disclaimer: (Insert Favorite disclaimer here.)

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Chapter 8: Chi Sao, Matchmaker Kitty.

Two months had gone by. The Decision was still weighing heavily on Sakura's mind. Syaoran strolled in the wide park with a look of practiced inscrutability on as he watched as Sakura sit in the sun-washed bench on the far corner of the playground with a faraway look of concentrated contemplation on her lovely features. Koryu, The Celestial Guardian was walking with him. In two months the two men, each with power and strength (not to mention very good looks) had found companionship in one another. To Syaoran it was more like finding a long lost best friend. Koryu looked at his auburn haired companion, brushing a stubborn lock of his own dark hair away from his face. In the two months that he had been there, both Tomoyo and Meiling had begged, bribed and threatened him to get his ear pierced, promising an all manner of pain and suffering if he didn't. So reluctantly, with no one there to defend him, and not wishing to bestow a horrible curse on them, he went along with it, getting a small round earring on his right ear. And much to the guardian's surprise, he found himself taking a liking to it and two weeks later had gotten a second piercing on the same ear right next to his first one. So now here he stood, looking like a real bad boy standing there with two earrings on his right ear and a wicked grin on his face. Syaoran gave a small wistful sigh and said. "She won't tell me what's wrong..."

Koryu smiled and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "She just needs time."

Syaoran agreed. But that still didn't explain why Meiling and Sakura had become so close in such a short period of time. When Tomoyo wasn't there, Sakura would go to Meiling for her opinion if they were going shopping. If the Amethyst eyed girl was there, she would go to Meiling as a second opinion. Not that Syaoran wasn't happy for this newfound friendship that was born between all three girls, it just felt....awkward seeing Meiling smile and laugh with Sakura.

Had you told him three months ago that Meiling, Tomoyo, and Sakura would have formed a buddy, buddy relationship, he'd have asked if you have some serious injury to the head recently. Another voice entered his reverie. "You should relax, descendant, too much thinking is bad for you." both men turned around to see Eriol standing right behind them carrying Chi Sao. "Eriol-san" Koryu said pleasantly. "How nice of you to join us." 

Eriol nodded to Koryu and turned his all knowing eyes on Syaoran, then looked at what the ocher-eyed man was looking at and sighed. "Descendant, you know how much I respect you---" Syaoran snorted. "---but worrying about her like that won't solve anything. You know her, she'll put on a brave face and say nothing's wrong when she sees you looking at her with those worried eye, Syaoran let her think this through."

"What am I supposed to do while she's thinking? Sit here and hope she doesn't kill herself over this decision?" Sayaoran asked angrily.

Koryu closed his eyes. "I'm sorry for burdening her with the knowledge of the Decision, Syaoran."

"You shouldn't have told her then." Syaoran snarled.

"What should he have done then, Syaoran?" Meiling's cold voice pierced through his ranting. "Wait until Sakura was at the Decision before telling her what it actually was? It would have torn her apart, finding out at the last minute. What do you think she would do if Koryu waited? She wouldn't be able to choose, she's have done something drastic, like what Misharu had done, maybe not kill herself, but she'd do something just as bad, like try to destroy the Miracle Cards or something."

"No." Koryu said. Everyone turned to look at him. "The only way to destroy the Miracle Cards is by destroying their Celestial Master. But since the Celestial Master hasn't been chosen yet, you can't destroy them. The Celestial Master lives forever you see, if Sakura does accept, then on her 21st birthday, she'll stop growing older."

There was a loud gasp, and all eyes turned to look at a very wide eyed Tomoyo. "You....you mean, that Sakura will have to watch everyone she loves grow old and die while she lives on?" Tomoyo's big amethyst eyes filled with tears. 

There was a profound silence among the group, before an ear-splitting yowl, coming from the bundle of black fur nestled in Eriol's arms broke the stillness. "C'mon guys, lets go home! Chi Sao wants cream." Fa Ling called from her position on the swings. "Coming!" all the teens, including Sakura chorused. 

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Chi Sao was not a happy little kitty. She was contemplating weather or not to bite off Mr. Li Syaoran's hands or not. Not that he was being annoying or mean hearted, he was actually very kind to her, and she was very fond of him. The only trait she didn't like about him was that he was oblivious to the affections of the woman he loved more than anything in the world. It was plain obvious to anyone who had eyes and a sense of logic that Kinomoto Sakura loved Li Syaoran as much as he loved her. It was stupid how they didn't notice that themselves, and it was really getting annoying. 

'Humans' Chi Sao thought vehemently as she sulked to Meiling's room and curled on the terra cotta eyed girl's bed to take a little cat nap 'They never see anything unless it's shown in neon yellow flashing colors, and fancy banners. Why don't they just admit to each other how much they love one another? They have plenty if chances, but there they sit, in an awkward silence when they're alone, she squirms and he stays his stoic self, when will they make the first move?!'

Then it hit her, with the force of a bullet. An Idea. And idea so brilliant it would make lesser humans blind. 'Well, If they won't see the truth, Then I'll have to make them!' Chi Sao, feeling very content with her course of action purred for all her worth before falling into a slumber filled with plans she would act upon to the unsuspecting would-be couple. 'Look out Card Mistress, here I come.' 


	9. So It begins

Okay. It's official. I. Hate. School. I haven't been able to post because I've been studying my butt off for various subjects , like math, I HATE math. But here I am, able to make my next chapter. Although, I'm worried that People are starting to lose interest in my stories. Do you all hate my stories that you don't want to review? Are you too tired to review? Have you been given the task of destroying a ring and are too busy avoiding Ring Wraiths and trying not to get killed to review? I'm sorry, I' just under a lot of stress right now. So just ignore my blabbing and Enjoy reading.

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Disclaimer: Oh, for crying out loud, do I still have to do this? I DO NOT OWN CCS, OR, FOR THAT MATTER, ANY OF CLAMP'S WORK! Thank you.

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Chapter 9: So It Begins

It was a cold rainy day, the birds were not singing, the worms were desperately trying to escape their worm holes so that they wouldn't drown. Fa Ling was looking drearily at her homework, desolate that Syaoran wouldn't let her go outside to play in the rain. Meiling aimlessly flipping through the channels on the TV trying to find something decent to watch. Syaoran was trying to regain his strength. It was odd, ever since that incident with the cards,Syaoran didn't have much energy and was constantly trying not to collapse from exhaustion from doing the smallest chores. Meiling, as it was, seemed to take a sudden fear of mirrors, complaining that she saw things whenever she looked at a reflective surface. She said that she couldn't sleep at night, she saw things whenever she closed her eyes. Needless to say, both of them were a wreck. Sakura had been very reluctant to leave Syaoran's side, she said that she was worried that he might over work himself. She was placated by Meiling who promised to hit Syaoran over the head, had he any intention of taking on a chore that he might exhaust himself on, so reassured, the emerald eyed teen went home to try and figure out her answer to the Decision. 

Chi Sao stalked into the kitchen, her bright purple eyes almost glowing with anticipation and excitement. Today was the day. It would start today. She had everything planned. Koryu was the only problem. Lately he was looking at her with those eyes of his and a you-better-not-try-anything-or-else expression on his handsome face, and she would answer with an expression that said oh-yeah?-well- bite me kind of face. Looking at Syaoran she frowned. Why is it that his powers weren't regenerating like they used to? They were moving much slower, and he would wear them out if he did the smallest things. He was constantly not trying to pass out from exhaustion and it was really beginning to worry her. Oh well, he would feel better sooner or later. People like him always pop back up without flaw.

Meiling sat there bored, beyond comprehension. She sighed, tired. She hardly had any sleep last night because she had such vivid dreams. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. There was a sharp tug in the back of her mind. 

__

Sakura...what was she doing here? She was standing in a dark room with doors on every available space, crying with her sword in one hand, and Syaoran's sword in another. Meiling stared at her. She looked at the figure lying near a door without a door handle, it was Syaoran. Meiling gasped in horror as Sakura lunged at the shadow near yet another door. "I Loved him..." Sakura whispered "And I never got to tell him that." 

"YoU wIlL DiE. LitTlE bLosSsoM. yOU WiLL bE witH HiM SoOn...." The shadow hissed back. It's voice was distorted as if it couldn't form the right sounds. 

"This is My test..." Sakura said, her face going hard. "Whether I live or die will not matter, I finally know what my Decision is going to be." Sakura said softly. "I Will NOT lose!" 

The shadow laughed mercilessly "AnD HoW, LiTtLE bLoSsOM WiLl yOU do ThAt?"

"Put aside all that I love. So I will fight." Sakura answered.

Suddenly Sakura turned. "Meiling?" 

"what?" Meiling answered.

"Meiling!" Sakura yelled

"I'm Here" Meiling snapped.

"Meiling Wake Up!" Syaoran's voice said.

Meiling bolted upright. She blinked several times. "Sakura?" Syaoran made a face. "I'm _Syaoran, _remember?" 

"oh" Meiling muttered, embarrassed. 

Syaoran was panting softly, as if he had done some immense task. He looked at Meiling, then at Fa Ling at kitchen table, then smashed his fist into the sofa. "Damn it! What the hell is wrong with me?!" he cried, as he collapsed in exhaustion into the sofa. "Meiling." He panted, "Call Sakura, Call Eriol, Call Koryu, I don't care who, just get someone here!" 

Meiling looked at him with wide frightened eyes. Syaoran was sweating, his amber eyes were glazed and he was paler than the plush white couch. Not to mention that he was breathing as though he had run a marathon. He looked like he was having trouble staying awake. 

Meiling ran to the nearest phone, Dialing Sakura's number. 

"Hello?" Sakura's cheerful voice came on the other end of the line.

"Sakura? It's Meiling, you have to come here as fast as you can."

"What? What's wrong?" 

"Syaoran."

Sakura's voice became a great deal less cheerful. "Is He alright?" She asked, her voice trembling with worry. 

"I don't know. But you have to come here, fast."

"I'll be right there." Sakura promised. She hung up. 

Meiling was about to hang up too, when the dial tone stopped and a soft whispering sound from the phone drew her ear to the piece. "Hello?" Meiling whispered. 

Silence.

"sO iT BeGins" The soft distorted sound murmured into the ear piece. 

"So What begins?" Meiling demanded.

"OrAcle HaSs nOt SsShoWN YoU yEt?" it whispered, inquiring. 

Meiling heared a childish giggle in her mind. _I have shown her. _it said in a lisping voice. _But she chooses not to believe me._

"ThAT'sSs ToO bAd. It'Ss HeR fRiEnDsSs sHe isSs FoRfeITing." 

"What? What Are you talking about?" Meiling demanded. 

But all that she heard was distorted laughter and the dial tone. 

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Sakura ran through her house, frantically trying to get her shoes on while Kero chased after her. "Kero, hurry up." Sakura muttered under her breath. "I'm waiting for you." The yellow fluff ball replied. "Don't worry kiddo, That brat will pull through, Meiling's probably just annoyed of all those reflective surfaces." Sakura dashed to the door and was about to make her exit when the phone rang. 

Sakura groaned inwardly. She wanted so badly to just leave and let the phone ring for all it was worth, but what if that was her father? Or Touya? Still grumbling about inconvenient phone calls, she trotted over to the phone and picked it up. "Moshi Moshi?" Sakura asked. 

"........" All she heard was silence on the other end of the line. 

"Hello?" Sakura asked, getting quite annoyed. 

"hELlO LiTtLE BlosSem...." A distorted sound answered.

"Who is this?" Sakura demanded. 

"Do YoU ReALLy thInK thAt ThE LIttLE WoLf iSS SsSaFe?" It asked.

"What are you talking about? Who is this?" Sakura asked again, fear beginning to crawl into her stomach.

"DraIN HAsS hIm NoW, AnD ShE LoVeSsS THe TaStE of HiS EnErGy.......RuN LiTtLE BlOSsOM...gO To YoUr WoLf...." Laughter erupted on the other side of the line as it went dead. 

"Syaoran..." Sakura muttered, dropping the phone and dashing out of her house as fast as she could. Running down the street she encountered several shadowed figures, all of whom were gliding closer. _"Rising moon, Setting Stars, I pledge myself to thee, the Celestial Maiden, Creator of heaven and Earth. Unleash the Blade that will help me conquer these who you have released in this realm, By our Contract....Come Forth, Dragon Sword!"_

"Pain! Release yourself from your slumber and a aid your mistress" 

Pain burst from her card and stretched leisurely. 'About time you called me.' she said as raised her right hand and snapped her fingers. True to her name, the oncoming attackers hunched over, groaning in agony. 

Sakura took out two other cards, "_Wraith! Confine!" _

"Make a path, leave destruction in your wake!" 

The tinkling voice of Confine sounded in her ear. _"Hooray, Hooray! Confine gets to play today!" _

"Oh shut up Confine," the cold voice of Wraith snapped, as they both appeared on the scene. 

Wraith liked her lips, "_Okay ladies...lets boogie"_

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I'm sorry if that was short and kind of confusing, but it's make sense soon, I'm sorry I didn't have time to update sooner, read and review. 


	10. Trial Part I

I've been a big jerk for not updating for so long. Sorry about that, I had finals so I had good reason. But now I don't so I'll continue. Anyways please Enjoy. Read and Review!

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Disclaimer: .............................Don't own CCS. Nothing, Don't sue me. *grumble* stupid disclaimer....

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Chapter 10: Trial. Part I

A cloaked figure ran the rooftops of the night, faster then the human eye could see, rain had begun to fall and she needed to be there in time. If she were late she would have to have another lecture on a particular subject again. She hated lectures. That's why she was making it a point to manipulate time. He would give her a blistering one for that too, but at the moment she didn't care. She was weaker then him, at the moment at least, but it wasn't fair that he got to meet her first. He was one, she was the other. She was supposed to be stronger then him, but at the moment she wasn't, and that infuriated her. At the speed not achieved by human standards she blurred through the city roof tops, looking, or sensing for her. She was somewhere close by. That aura, that aura of bright power, the sheer power of it fascinated her, but most of all it intrigued her....the sheer _pinkness _of it. She had to witness it for herself. Could this be the future Mistress of the Miracle cards? Hopefully so, it nearly drove her crazy to see the last one kill herself. _Pity_. She thought. _she would have made a promising Mistress if she weren't so weak hearted. _

She ran fast and then she heard, and smelled signs of a battle, although she couldn't see them. She picked up her speed, her dark black hair splaying out behind her. Then she heard taunting.

__

'What's wrong? Can't keep up?' The pain card for sure. That energy signal was a telltale sign of who it was. Then she heard the faint laughter of the Confine. _'Come on, Come on, Try and catch me! ....what's wrong? too slow?'_

Finally the figure landed on a building where the would-be mistress of the Miracle cards stood along with the three cards she had unleashed. "Well, well, well...." The figure mumbled, as she shifted to get a better look. "Where is Koryu.....?" She muttered as she glanced about, her silver-eyes met the three pairs of bright purple eyes. One pair belonged to a large panther, the other belonged to a cat slightly smaller and the last one belonged to a small feline. All of these beasts were cats. Right next to them were women....only they looked exactly alike, aside from the fact that they were all of different age. 

A little girl stood by the black kitten with purple eyes, her bright pink eyes looked at the battle below with avid attention as she picked up the cat and began to stroke it, her gold Chinese outfit glittered as her dark purple hair waved around her . The one standing next to the slightly larger cat was a teenage version of the little girl, and the last one was what appeared to be the adult version of the two in her prime, her hair was longer and her eyes were bigger, her outfit was form fitting and her right hand was absently stroking the panther, all of them stood silently watching the battle below. 

The young woman on the roof top watched them with wide eyes. "Past....Present and Future...? What are _they _doing here?" 

Sakura watched them, the hooded figures fighting with her cards. Her face serious she brought out another card. _"Fly!" _She sent the card flying she struck it with her sword. The long angel wings had evolved yet again, they were transparent, like ice, they glittered like diamonds as the street lamps hit them, each feather was outlined delicately, as if they were carved by the best jewelers in the world. Sakura took wing, and brought out two other cards "_Arrow!_ _ Freeze! _ _Firey! Lend me your strength!" _ Sakura's sword vanished as Arrow's bow replaced it, Sakura drew an arrow and fired. The arrows split repeatedly, mixed with the power of freeze and firey, they either torched the attackers or froze them in their place. The ones frozen were shattered by either Pain's chain attack, or Wraith's sickle. Sakura wasn't satisfied, she had to get to Syaoran as fast as she could, she drew three other cards. "_Shot, Watery, Thunder!" _From then it was complete madness. The figure on the rooftop still gazed fixedly at the three beings who so avidly watched the battle going on. "This is bad.....Real bad." then, with one last look at the battle, she bounded off the rooftop and vanished in a swirl of diamond like sparkles. 

The little girl with pink eyes watched the figure go, it's feline companion still in her arms purring. _"What are you looking at, Past?_" the voice of her teenage mirror image asked, glancing at the place that Past was staring so intently on. _'The second guardian was just here....' _Past muttered, not taking her eyes off the spot. _'see?' _With a flick of the little girl's wrist, everything seemed to go into reverse mode, as if someone had pushed the rewind button on a VCR remote control. The sparkles of diamonds swirled in the opposite direction as the cloaked figure appeared and jumped backwards onto the roof and backed up to where she was once sitting, her eyes once again riveted on the three ladies and their cat companions. By this time the eldest of the women standing on the rooftop glanced in their direction. Past snapped her fingers and everything froze, as if someone had pushed pause. _'Stop that Past, Can't you see I'm trying to watch a fight down here?' _the woman's bright pick eyes bore into identical ones. _'Hmph, shut up Future, you have every right to be as worried about this as I am.' _Past retorted as she glared at one of the hooded figures. With another flick of her wrist she watched as the hooded figure began to regress into it's infancy and then all together disappear, having regressed out of existence. Future opened her mouth to say something. but the teenager interrupted her. _'Hey look, she's still moving....' _The teenage version of Past watched in avid fascination as the hooded figure on the opposite rooftop vanished yet again, while everything was still frozen in this time continuum _. 'Of course she can still move, have you forgotten? The second guardian, her powers link directly to that of time, and gravity, as well as in nature....being the more powerful of the two guardians she has almost as much power as the Celestial maiden herself." _ Future said tonelessly, as if she were reciting from a textbook, eyes still fixed on the frozen battle field. _'So if she's all high and mighty, why doesn't she attack us...?" _Past wanted to know. 

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'Because, idiot, her powers are greatly diluted until the next mistress is chosen,' The teenager said in a matter of fact tone. 

__

'I didn't ask you Present.' Past snapped at her teenage double, her pink eyes flashing in annoyance. _'Does it matter? Future would have told you anyway.' _Present snuck a glance at Future, _'Although, she has a tendency to sugar-coat everything.....I trait I don't possess.' _Present muttered softy.

_'I heard that.' _Future chuckled wryly as she rolled her bright cherry eyes.

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'Aino, go back to that little girl, what is her name again........Fa Ling and stay there until the trial begins, then lead the mistress to us. We want to see this go to another stage, hopefully this would- be mistress won't kill herself like the last one did.' Past ordered the cat in her arms. Aino, the purple eyed cat looked at her mistress and stared hard at her. _'Call me Chi Sao, that's what Fa Ling calls me.....I've grown fond of that name.' _Aino told Past as she bounded off the rooftops to get back to Fa Ling as Past had ordered_._

Past rolled her eyes. _'Your name is Aino, and not Chi Sao, although it has an cute ring to it.....but that's not the point, if you change your name, Malikel, and Divina might want to change their names too.' _Past said as she gave a sideways glance at the two large cats remaining. Both cats gave her a look that said, not hardly, before turning their attention to the still frozen battle field. Present snapped her fingers and everything resumed. Past sighed, she was getting bored, maybe she'd stalk the Second guardian.......she leaped of a roof top and ran through the neighborhood. 

Eriol thrust himself back in a chair and watched the moonlight seep through the windows. Something was wrong, he could feel it. he glanced over at Kero, who had stopped eating the chocolate chip Ice cream that Tomoyo had given him, his spoon frozen midway on it's journey to his mouth and he was staring out the window, at the same beam of moonlight. Even Tomoyo sensed something was wrong, Tomoyo, who was busy sketching another "Kawaii" outfit for Sakura in her sketch book, froze, when the quiet room seemed to have dimmed, the silence was almost deafening. "What is it..?" Tomoyo whispered almost inaudibly, although it echoed throughout the room, as if she has screamed. No one Answered. Kero, who had come over to Tomoyo's house because Fugitaka was having some of his friends over, (or rather, his colleagues) to discuss a dig that was about to take place, needed the house to themselves, Kero, who didn't think he could keep quiet long enough without his video games begged Sakura to go to Tomoyo's house where he could play his game, and try to beat the final level in Space Fighters and discuss the Miracle Cards with Eriol . The little yellow creature was now staring at the moon as if he'd never seen it before. "Eriol---" He said after what seemed like an eternity. "I know." the reincarnation of the former most powerful sorcerer in the world said before Kero could even finish his sentence. 

"What?" Tomoyo asked, looking from the moon, to kero, then to Eriol and back. 

"Look Very carefully at the Moon Tomoyo. What do you see?" Erio replied, eyes still fixed on the Moon.

Tomoyo looked, she frowned then she squinted, then she dropped her sketch book and rubbed her eyes, as if not believing what she saw. "What.....I must be seeing things..." Tomoyo muttered as she took another glance at the Moon. Eriol smiled without humor. "Oh no Love, you're not seeing things, the moon has turned completely blood red, it's not just you." 

"Tomoyo." Kero said sharply. Tomoyo turned. "You know Yue's number right? Tell him to come over here." 

"But.....what if Yuki answers....?" Tomoyo asked worriedly

"He won't, chances are that Yue is seeing the same thing we are, Yue always had to come out when something wrong was here. That's just him, it's in he nature." Kero replied.

"ok..." Tomoyo went to make the call, she stood at the phone, listening to it ring over and over, finally she hung up.

"No one's answering Kero." Tomoyo said. 

"He's Looking for Sakura then. I know it." Kero said as he flew over to the door. 

"You're not going anywhere fluff ball." A rumble came from the darkness, as it reached out and grabbed Kero by the wings. Koryu emerged from the shadows. "At least not without me."

"I'm going to" Eriol said as he stepped forward.

"Me too---" Tomoyo started.

"No" all three males said in unison. 

"Why not?" Tomoyo said, a little hurt at her boyfriend's passionate will for her to stay behind. 

"It's to dangerous out their Tomoyo, I can feel all sorts of energies out there, and not very many of them seem friendly. I don't want you getting hurt...." Eriol said caressing Tomoyo's cheek with his hand. Tomoyo still looked at him with eyes that were partly worried, partly hurt. "I'll make it up to you, I promise." Eriol whispered as he bent to kiss her lightly on the lips. 

Kero turned away and Koryu cleared his throat loudly, "If we may leave....?" 

"Lead on Guardian." Eriol said, still staring into Tomoyo's eyes. Koryu rolled his own snake-like eyes and walked to the door, "I sure don't hope you start getting gooey eyed during the fight Eriol, It's going to be a dozy." Kero said cheerfully.

"How do you know there'll even _be _a fight?" Eriol asked wryly.

Koryu chuckled and answered. "Because there always is." 

Meiling was going to kill the stupid mirror, it was staring back at her. For a while she'd tired to convince herself that she was still asleep, and that this was all a bad dream. Unfortunately the mirror had other ideas, and an identical image of herself was staring manically at her, her red eyes having turned blood red. Meiling found herself having a conversation with her reflection. Or someone who looked remarkably like her. The only thing that convinced her that she wasn't going crazy was the fact that the image in the mirror actually answered. "Who are you" Demanded Meiling as she glared at her reflection. 

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'I'm you" the person in the mirror answered gleefully, as if enjoying this. 

"No you're not" Meiling insisted, she tried to bore a whole through her reflection's head, with no avail.

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"I know what will happen next..." The Meiling-Identical said tauntingly. 

"You've said that for the past three hours, either spit it out or leave me alone." 

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'You really don't have much patience do you?"

"I kind of lost that when my stupid reflection started talking back to me." Meiling muttered under her breath. 

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'Make sure you kiss you're cousin goodbye for me." The mirror image said to Meiling, making kissy faces at her. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Meiling growled, but the person in the mirror decided not to answer her. 

"Who are you talking to?" Syaoran's voice startled Meiling, she jumped in the air, and turned around, trying not to look surprised that he was there.

"No one! Absolutely No one" Meiling replied, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Meiling" Syaoran warned, but he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy, "I heard voices." 

"Y-you must be hearing things, I didn't hear anyone." Meiling said, a little uneasy herself. _Liar, Liar Don't you know it's not nice to lie? _Something in her mind taunted. "Stop it! Leave me alone!" Meiling screamed at the voice in her head clutching her scalp as if she were going through a massive headache. "Meiling...?" Syaoran asked, his dark honey eyes stared at her with concern. "Are you ok?" 

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Go get some rest, don't you feel tired?" Meiling asked breathing a little hard, changing the subject and praying that he would stay at that subject. No Such luck. "What's going on Meiling? Are you sure you're okay? You haven't been acting yourself lately." The brown eyed young man said staring directly into Terra cotta eyes. "Nothing's going on....what's makes you think something's going on?" Meiling asked, a little frantically. "Lets see.....you won't look a mirrors, or anything with a reflective surface, cover them up with cloth and I hear you talking to the mirror all the time, what's going on?" 

The fight went out of Meiling when she saw his worried honey eyes. "I see myself in the mirror...."

Syaoran looked confused "Uhhhhh.....Meiling, that's what you're supposed to see...." 

"No! I mean I see me, but it's _Not _me.....but it is....only...it's not." Meling stammered, confusing herself. "Wait, slow down, I'm listening." Syaoran said soothingly.

Meiling took a deep breath and opened her mouth, to tell him everything. About her nightmares, about her conversations with her evil twin in the mirror, of the flashes of what the future holds, about the fact that she'd seen Sakura nearly die in the near future.....but before she got out a sound, Syaoran doubled over in agony, and a mist of green completely covered him as he collapsed on the floor. Laughter rang inside Meiling head _" told you to kiss him goodbye for me, too bad.....Drain has him now..." _The mist receded, but Syaoran wasn't there. He was gone. Meiling stood there, frozen.

"Syaoran........?"

Sakura stared at Wraith, as the card hacked viciously at one of the oncoming attackers. _"Thunder! Aid Wraith!" _Sakura ordered as she floated in the sky, hurling arrows of ice and fire that multiplied as the neared their targets. Why were these things endless...? _Damnit I need to get to Syaoran! _She stared straight ahead, hoping beyond hope that someone would come. 

As if on cue, Yue came flying into the scene, floating in the air, he assessed the situation. He looked around for his mistress to see her staring at the open path and knew she was debating to go, or not to go. But also knowing Sakura's nature, he knew that she would refuse to leave her cards to fend for themselves. "Sakura!" Yue yelled. Sakura's head turned, and her eyes widened from surprise to gratitude. _'Go!' _Wraith yelled, in the process of beheading a cloaked attacker. Sakura looked back to Yue, uncertainly read in her lovely green eyes. "Do as she says, Master, we'll be fine here." He said, reassuring her. '_No_' Wraith said. she glared over at Yue. _'You..... you go with her. We'll keep them here' _she snarled at Yue. _'But I'm warning you guardian,'_ Wraith continued _'You let anything happen to her, and we'_ she said motioning to Confine and Pain, who were still vigorously attacking a group the cloaked people. '_will come after you ourselves'_ Turning to Sakura she bowed. _'Good luck Mistress_.'

Watching from the top of one of the buildings, that last two remaining women stood. '_Interesting, very interesting.' _ Future muttered. 

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"Interesting? What is interesting? ' Present asked. 

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"Wraith, she seems to have developed a fondness for this would-be mistress....she never liked the last one...and she was perfectly likeable." Future chuckled.

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'That is interesting....interesting indeed...'

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YAY! *claps* I'm done with this chapter!!! Hooray!. okay, it might be a little confusing, because I admit, it wasn't my very best work. I intended it to be a tad longer though.....but I went brain dead...So...yeah...anyways please review. -.-;; 


	11. Still More Unanswered Questions

ugh....you all hate me now, I know it. I know I haven't updated in like forever, but, as always....my excuse is very lame, I kinda had a mild, or huge, writer's block, and I'm trying to finish one story, but I keep getting ideas for all these new things that keep popping into my head. So, I'll try to have other chapters come faster. (even though that might take a little or a lot of work.)

So here (_finally_) is the next chapter

R&R

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Disclaimer: blah blah do not own, blah blah cardcaptors...blah 

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Chapter 11 : Trial Part I: Still more un-answered questions,

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'ugh, where is this heaviness coming from?' Sakura thought, her body feeling as if she were swimming in sticky molasses. The air around her seemed to have hummed with energy bent on slowing her down. She slowly felt her body beginning to drain of energy, all of the cards she released were drawing on her power for extra support. _C'mon, c'mon! Syaoran's in danger!_ The litany kept playing in Sakura's head, a prominent reminder of just how little time she had to get to Syaoran before something awful happened to him. And she _knew_ somehow, by some miracle that something bad was going to happen to her Syaoran. She glanced to her side to see that Yue was following her, his bright, almost glowing white wings spread gracefully, looking elegant and dangerous at the same time. The knot inside Sakura's stomach eased a bit, knowing her second guardian would look after her, despite the fact that he said it was purely because she was the master of the Clow cards. She knew better, she'd seen him look at her with that special glint in his eyes. That glint that told her he would protect her at any costs, even if it meant his death. She was glad for it. Not that she wanted him to die. It was just comforting to know that someone was so devoted to her like that.

Sakura almost chuckled. Yue reminded her of Toya sometimes. That undiluted, but well hidden look of annoyance when she was around Syaoran. That stoic look in his eyes. Of course, she knew that he was too polite to voice his opinion of the Chinese teen. Unlike her brother, who made it a point to criticize Syaoran when she wasn't there to defend him. Yue's concern was brotherly, just like Toya, her annoying big brother. Maybe it was because Toya had given Yue his magic, or maybe it was the connection Toya had with Yue through Yuki. Whatever it was, she was glad for it. She couldn't do this alone. 

Sakura looked to the side of the street. Seeing more dark figures in cloaks approaching steadily, arms raised, and the power that rose like a ghost around they're bodies. "_They're not real_...." Sakura realized. Well, they weren't real in the Physical Sense, but they still had great strength. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Yue flying ahead of her, his beautifully carved face set in determination. He collided with the looming figures, and bursts of magic so strong erupted, it made Sakura's head spin for a second, her eyesight splotched with magic spots, as if someone had taken a picture. 

'_Go! I can handle this"_ Yue's magic spoke to her, a trace of something feeling remarkably like amusement lacing his powerful magic. 

__

"Thank you" Sakura sent her power back to speak with her guardian before flying off on her great sliver-diamond wings, wondering, why, of all things, did battles amuse her second guardian. "Must be since Yukito's always the one on the outside...." Sakura mumbled, flying with renewed vigor to Syaoran's apartment. 

"I'm coming Syaoran." She whispered, flying as if Hell itself were after her.

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Syaoran stared at his hands, trying, not for the first time, to call his magic. He'd felt her. Sakura, heading this direction, and instinctively reached for his magic so that he could be prepared to protect her from anything. But it wasn't there. The magic. _His_ magic. He couldn't feel it. It was always his source of comfort when it was too hard to get through the morning. It linked to his life. Syaoran frowned, where had it gone? 

He felt himself get drowsy, like all the other times he fell asleep, feeling something in the back of his mind being sucked away from him, as if by a black hole, sucking out life. Given that he wasn't dead yet, he knew it wasn't his life being sucked out of him. It was his magic. He sank down on his knees, looking around him. It was odd. His apartment didn't look like his apartment anymore. It was dark, almost sinister. Somehow, the lights were turned off, the windows dark, and a feeling of impending doom coming closer. That's when he heard it. Footsteps. 

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'Meiling?'

The footsteps stopped in front of him. He looked up, his vision slightly blurry from the fatigue he was suddenly feeling. There, standing in front of him, was the most sinister looking woman he had seen. Beautiful, yes, strong, yes, but any sort of compassion for him wasn't there in her eyes. 

He felt her power. Representing things, jumbled, but strong. _East, skies, fire, water, ice, thunder, wind, earth, power, destruction, shadows, east....._

"....Seriyuu?" Syaoran managed to stammer. The red gold eyes of the woman lit with humor. They're Irises changing as she spoke. 

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"Yes little Wolf, Seriyuu, One of the four god cards your lovely blossom shall soon face" She tilted her head on one side, a look of amused contemplation registering on her perfect features. "_Unfortunately, it is not I she will face today, she is not ready to even face the Tarot Deck. The Hermit, The Lovers, Temperance, Death......all of those, she must face. I'm just here for a little preview of what I'm up against, Not here to interfere." _She sighed and shook her head_ 'Sleep little wolf, this has nothing to do with you. Although their methods seem to have become more flashy since the last mistress.....ah well, no used crying over spilled blood....' _She smiled at him, her left eye now an electric blue, while her right eye and bright acid green. Her lovely face broke out into a smile, a cold smile. She tilted her head to the other side, as if examining him, her eyes turning back into those blood red gold orbs, hair of blue-black ebony shone with unnatural beauty, as if carved out of satin sapphire, her eyes burned with a inner light, making them seem like gems in what little light was left in his apartment, constantly changing. Finally she spoke _"Well, little wolf, tell your little blossom that I await the time when she and I will finally meet'. _With that she turned around and a Black fire dragon swirled around her, sparkling like black opals as she faded in their ethereal light.

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"Impressive wasn't it?' another amused, slightly awed voice said, then sighed. _'I never get tired of seeing that....'_ Syaoran glanced to his right, seeing another vision, with red hair, and mint green eyes dressed in a green kimono with Kanji symbols imprinted on it, there was a slit, right in between her legs, showing shapely legs, with intricately carved green designs around the ankles, glowing a steady teal color as they pulsed with magic. She smiled at him. Reminding him of a Cheshire cat that had just had a saucer of cream. '_Thank you'_ she giggled.

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"For what...?' he thought. That's when he noticed her aura. Strong. Based on the moon. _green._ Syaoran's eyes widened. That was _his_ magic! As if she had read his mind, her grin widened. _'That's right.'_

The Card laughed at the look on his face, and dipped into a mocking curtsy. _"Drain. At your service."_

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"Dammit! Keroberus, Move _faster!"_ Koryu all but snarled. They were in the middle of the street, surrounded by dark cloaked figures. "What am I supposed to do? They've blocked where Sakura went! And I can't feel her anymore!" the true form of Kero snapped. 

"Yue's power I can still sense." Eriol said, glancing in the opposite direction. "Do you think he went with her?" 

"Maybe....." Kero said, a little uncertain as he watched Koryu send a black ball of fire straight at the cloaked figures. "Some guardian you are!" Koryu yelled as charged forward, hurling more fireballs towards the ever approaching figures. Koryu's head jerked up, he looked in the opposite direction to where Yue's magic was building. "Wraith, she and some of the other Miracle cards are there." he said. almost inaudibly.

"Shit." Eriol muttered, dropping his usual amused air for something akin to annoyance. "so which way?"

"That way." Kero and Koryu intoned at the same time, staring in opposite directions.   
Eriol sighed. "I'll go with Yue's direction. He'll probably have a better chance at being with Sakura then the other cards."

Koryu's eyes narrowed. "Fine. But we have to hurry. Cause if that's the wrong direction....." he trailed off, leaving Kero's imagination to go wild with all the horrible possibilities of what might happen to his card mistress. Face set with determination he ground his teeth together. "lets go."

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"Syaoran?" Sakura called, as she stepped into the apartment. "Hello? Are you in here Syaoran?"

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'How rude. Don't you ever knock?" a voice said, amused scorn laced with annoyance intoned into it. Sakura's head snapped over to where the voice . Sakura swiveled just in time to avoid the *Naginata as it slammed into the wall behind her. "Where is Syoran!?" Sakura asked furiously trying to avoid another oncoming attack. The card laughed, expanding her magic as her ankles began glowing brighter. Sakura froze. "Why do you feel like Syoaran? Why do you have his magic? Where is he?" she tried to keep the panic out of her voice.

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'Lets just say that I..."Borrowed it" for a little bit' The card answered, joyously, seeming more amused at Sakura's distraught. 

Sakura breathed deeply, trying to keep calm when all she wanted to do was make sure Syaoran was okay......And kill this unknown card. Composing herself she stared into the green eyes of the cheerful card. "Where is Syaoran?" her voice dangerously calm. 

The card shrugged. _ 'Not here at the moment.'_ then she smiled. _'but I'll take a message'_ Sakura gripped the handle of her sword tightly. The card giggled. _'Impatient aren't we? Well he's in another dimension. One parallel to this one. Come with me and we'll play for keeps. kay?' _

"Play for keeps?" Sakura asked, slightly confused. 

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'Sheesh' The card rolled it's eyes. _'You really are dense. Playing for keeps. You know, winner take all?' _She sighed. '_but I suppose you're too much of a goody-goody to actually play that dangerously aren't you?"_ Drain grinned somewhat mockingly.

Sakura's emerald eyes narrowed. "Fine, we'll play for keeps. If I win you return Syaoran to me, give him back his magic, and let me seal you without anymore complaining and, or trying to kill me. Come quietly, got it?"

Drain tiled her head sideways, leaning slightly on her Naginata. _'And what if I win?'_

Sakura's smile stayed pleasant as she shrugged casually. "You won't"

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T. B .C 

*Naginata- a Five foot pole with and additional three foot slightly curved blade. (similar to a halberd)

UGH!!! Finally! Sorry about the wait folks. And even then I'm afraid I didn't dish out such a good chapter. I was in a rush to get this done, I guess It's a little sloppy. But I know If I don't post it sometime soon I'll forget about it. -__-0 well, I'm working on the next chapter, so maybe I'll dole it out earlier then making you people wait. Siiigh, I know I haven't updated in like, for ever, but I guess it kinda just dropped off my radar for a whil. But I'm back now, so I'll try to finish the story soon. Kinda short too. I'll do better next time! I promise!


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